I'm all for it just on general principle, but the justification strikes me as somehat strained (Updated)
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Trump admin pausing all off shore wind project construction due to national security concerns
The move was made after classified reports concluded potential national security risks
President Donald Trump's Department of Interior announced on Monday that, effective immediately, leases for all large-scale offshore wind projects being constructed in the United States will be paused.
In a press release, DOI wrote that the pause is due to "national security risks" identified by the Department of War in "recently completed classified reports."
In a press release, DOI says the pause will "give the Department, along with the Department of War and other relevant government agencies, time to work with leaseholders and state partners to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by these projects.”
The department highlighted unclassified reports from the U.S. government in the past that have "long found" that massive turbine blades in large-scale offshore wind projects can create radar interference called "clutter" that can obscure legitimate moving targets and generate false targets.
In 2024, a Department of Energy report found that while the radar threshold for false alarm detection can be increased to reduce some of that "clutter," the radar can "miss actual targets" when that threshold is increased.
"Today’s action ensures that national security risks posed by offshore wind projects are appropriately addressed and that the United States government retains its ability to effectively defend the American people," the press release states.
Welll, maybe; I suspect the real danger will come from liberals’ heads exploding at this news, but whatever works — or in the case of windmills, doesn’t work.
How long before a federal judge-who-would-be-king overrules Trump and orders the leases reinstated? One…two…three…
And then there’s this, from twenty years ago, when Trump was serving as Japan’s Prime Minister:
Burning Yen: Japanese Government Scraps Last Wind Turbines in Failed $580 Million Offshore Project
¥60 billion wind power project off Fukushima to be dismantled
The Japan Times
Kyodo
17 December 2020
The government said Thursday it will remove the two remaining wind power turbines it installed off Fukushima Prefecture citing lack of profit in the project, which cost ¥60 billion ($580 million).
The project was widely seen as a symbol of the reconstruction of the northeastern prefecture following the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters.
The government will remove the two remaining wind power turbines it installed off Fukushima Prefecture due to inadequate profitability of the project, which cost ¥60 billion.
The decision came despite Japan’s goal of raising its offshore wind power generation to up to 45 gigawatts in 2040 from a mere 20,000 kilowatts at present as part of efforts to fight climate change. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
At a meeting in Fukushima, industry ministry officials briefed fishermen and other participants about the plan, with local people saying the government had wasted taxpayers’ money and should conduct a thorough study of why the project had failed.
In June, the government removed one of the three turbines installed 20 kilometers off the town of Naraha. It has decided to remove the remaining two in the fiscal year starting April.
The three turbines were constructed in stages from 2012 to support the local economy by creating a new industry based on renewable energy.
To commercialize wind power generation, the operational rate of a turbine must remain at 30% to 35% or more, according to the ministry.
But the rates of the turbines off Fukushima had been around 4% to 36%, according to trading house Marubeni Corp., which participated in the project.
The Japan Times