As Trump tries to deregulate and reprioritize fossil fuels, the decision on Friday is expected to have an impact on 12 offshore projects, including a $ 427 million project in California.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy claimed in a statement that the funding was a waste of money that could have been used to “revitalize America’s maritime industry.”
Real infrastructure improvements are prioritized over “fantasy wind projects that cost a lot and offer little,” he said as a result of President Trump’s remarks.
As part of a wider shift toward green energy, the funding had been given under former president Joe Biden’s control.
The Humboldt Bay project, which was supposed to be the first offshore wind terminal on the Pacific coast, received funding among the cancellations.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s decision to support the action was criticized as an example of the administration “assaulting clean energy and infrastructure projects – hurting business and killing jobs in rural areas, and ceding our economic future to China,” according to a spokesperson for the governor.
A $47 million grant was awarded in 2022 for an offshore wind terminal project close to New York’s Staten Island, in addition to the $48 million that was awarded for an offshore wind logistics and manufacturing hub near the Port of Baltimore in Maryland.
For a port project to redevelop a vacant industrial building for offshore wind projects, $ 33 million was also cut.
Activists in Massachusetts and Massachusetts said canceled the Salem grant would result in 800 construction workers losing their jobs, according to Massachusetts governor Maura Healey.
She claimed that the Trump administration is “turning away tens of millions of dollars” in support of a project that is already being worked on to increase our energy supply.
The Trump administration abruptly halted the construction of a nearly finished wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut, according to the latest trimming. Without providing further details, the Department of the Interior claimed the action was necessary to address concerns about national security.
A significant wind farm in Idaho that had been approved in Biden’s final days of presidency was also cancelled by the Interior Department in early August.
Multiple federal agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Energy, and Commerce, reported that they are looking into offshore wind farms along the Atlantic coast that the Biden administration had approved.
Trump has frequently criticised green energy, particularly wind power, for being ugly and expensive energy that “smart” nations don’t use.
However, as renewable energy is increasingly being used to combat climate change, both domestically and internationally. For instance, China has made significant investments in wind and solar energy, becoming a leading supplier of wind turbine parts.
Trump’s strategy, according to critics, will put the United States in the backseat of its rivals.
Trump falsely attributed the skyrocketing prices to renewable energy last week, calling the industry a “scam” as US electricity prices increased at more than twice the rate of inflation.
He vowed to stop all wind power projects on Tuesday.
Source: Aljazeera
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