"I can proudly say, Doug, that we have not approved one windmill since I've been in office. And we're going to keep it that way. My goal is to not let any windmill be built. They're losers," Trump said to his interior secretary, Doug Burgum, at a recent White House event.
At Trump's urging, Burgum has actively worked to thwart wind projects on land and offshore.
On Monday, Burgam's Interior Department announced it will pay a French energy company, TotalEnergies, nearly $1 billion to stop plans to build two wind farms off the coasts of New York and North Carolina. Instead, TotalEnergies will take the money it had paid during the Biden administration for federal offshore land leases and reinvest some of it into a liquefied natural gas plant in Texas. TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné described the agreement to forfeit its leases for U.S. offshore wind farms as "innovative."
The president, meanwhile, repeats his distaste for wind power often and usually without any prompting at all, like he did last week in the Oval Office with the prime minister of Ireland.
"They're very bad environmentally; they kill the birds; they're unsightly; they make a lot of noise," Trump said.
Turbine collisions do kill birds, though far fewer than outdoor cats and building collisions do, according to the National Audubon Society. But for Trump, this really isn't about science. Attacking wind energy is more of a passion project.
And in this second Trump term, it is the policy of the U.S. government. Long-planned projects have stalled, awaiting federal approvals that aren't coming. And the administration took the highly unusual step of pausing construction for five offshore wind power projects that were already being built off the East Coast by Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and Virginia.
"This is unprecedented, and no one saw this coming," said Kit Kennedy, managing director of the power unit at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.
"These are projects that are creating tens of thousands of good-paying jobs. They represent billions and billions of dollars of investment and were near completion when these stop-work orders come down," Kennedy said.
The companies building the projects sued, and judges have rejected the administration's arguments. With preliminary injunctions in place, construction has resumed, and one project is already delivering power.
But Trump and his administration are pushing ahead. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers says that former President Joe Biden was the one picking favorites and that Trump's "energy dominance agenda is unleashing reliable, affordable, secure energy sources to meet growing demands."
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Trump takes aim at windmills
by Long Islander
15 hours ago
NPR | By Tamara Keith
Published March 24, 2026 at 5:00 AM EDT
The high cost of power bills is shaping up to be a political issue in this year's midterm elections. But when it comes to generating electricity, President Trump is picking winners and losers. He's pushing companies to keep aging coal-powered plants online.
And then there's wind energy, which Trump hates.
"I can proudly say, Doug, that we have not approved one windmill since I've been in office. And we're going to keep it that way. My goal is to not let any windmill be built. They're losers," Trump said to his interior secretary, Doug Burgum, at a recent White House event.
At Trump's urging, Burgum has actively worked to thwart wind projects on land and offshore.
On Monday, Burgam's Interior Department announced it will pay a French energy company, TotalEnergies, nearly $1 billion to stop plans to build two wind farms off the coasts of New York and North Carolina. Instead, TotalEnergies will take the money it had paid during the Biden administration for federal offshore land leases and reinvest some of it into a liquefied natural gas plant in Texas. TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné described the agreement to forfeit its leases for U.S. offshore wind farms as "innovative."
The president, meanwhile, repeats his distaste for wind power often and usually without any prompting at all, like he did last week in the Oval Office with the prime minister of Ireland.
"They're very bad environmentally; they kill the birds; they're unsightly; they make a lot of noise," Trump said.
Turbine collisions do kill birds, though far fewer than outdoor cats and building collisions do, according to the National Audubon Society. But for Trump, this really isn't about science. Attacking wind energy is more of a passion project.
And in this second Trump term, it is the policy of the U.S. government. Long-planned projects have stalled, awaiting federal approvals that aren't coming. And the administration took the highly unusual step of pausing construction for five offshore wind power projects that were already being built off the East Coast by Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and Virginia.
"This is unprecedented, and no one saw this coming," said Kit Kennedy, managing director of the power unit at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.
"These are projects that are creating tens of thousands of good-paying jobs. They represent billions and billions of dollars of investment and were near completion when these stop-work orders come down," Kennedy said.
The companies building the projects sued, and judges have rejected the administration's arguments. With preliminary injunctions in place, construction has resumed, and one project is already delivering power.
But Trump and his administration are pushing ahead. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers says that former President Joe Biden was the one picking favorites and that Trump's "energy dominance agenda is unleashing reliable, affordable, secure energy sources to meet growing demands."
The article continues at https://www.mainepublic.org/npr-news/2026-03-24/trump-takes-aim-at-windmills-despite-increasing-energy-costs
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Fair Use Notice: This website may reproduce or have links to copyrighted material the use of which has not been expressly authorized by the copyright owner. We make such material available, without profit, as part of our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, economic, scientific, and related issues. It is our understanding that this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided by law. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.