President-elect Donald Trump is envisioning a future without new wind energy projects under his administration, arguing that this power source is economically impractical and is causing harm to marine life.
Trump has long criticized using wind farms as a main form of energy production, but his latest remarks suggest that his incoming administration could place major restrictions on the future production of new wind-powered energy projects.
‘It’s the most expensive energy there is. It’s many, many times more expensive than clean natural gas,’ Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday. ‘So we’re going to try and have a policy where no windmills are being built.’
The federal government currently offers several different ways to obtain subsidies for windmill production, which Trump pointed to as one of the main issues with the energy source.
‘The only people that want them are the people getting rich off windmills, getting massive subsidies from the U.S. government,’ he added. ‘You don’t want energy that needs subsidy.’
The incoming president has also claimed potential interference with sea mammals is an issue, specifically in Massachusetts.
‘You see what’s happening up in the Massachusetts area, where they had two whales wash ashore in I think a 17-year period,’ Trump said during the news conference. ‘Now they had 14 this season. The windmills are driving the whales crazy, obviously.’
Trump finds consensus with some environmental groups on the issue.
‘That’s the only thing out there that’s changed, and it’s changed dramatically,’ said Constance Gee of Green Oceans, a group that strives to protect ocean life, according to WCVB 5. ‘There is so much ship traffic out there. It’s so loud. There’s piledriving. There’s sub-bottom profiling with sonar.’
The National Marine Fisheries Service, however, says that there is no evidence currently connecting wind turbines and whale deaths.
Trump’s latest comments were criticized by a Democratic ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, who said the incoming president ‘is completely out of touch.’
‘Trump is against wind energy because he doesn’t understand our country’s energy needs and dislikes the sight of turbines near his private country clubs,’ Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a statement.
Wind energy is currently the largest source of renewable energy in the U.S., according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). However, such energy production has received growing opposition from members of the GOP in recent years, who have expressed concerns over its potential adverse effects.
‘Like the canary in the coal mine, the recent spate of tragic whale deaths shed new light and increased scrutiny to the fast-tracking of thousands of wind turbines off our coast,’ Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said in March 2023.
Over the past four years, President Joe Biden has made major investments in the offshore wind industry as part of his green energy push, approving the nation’s first 11 commercial scale offshore wind projects.