The Trump administration’s May 19 bargain to allow Equinor’s Empire Wind project in exchange for New York State’s cooperation on natural gas pipelines left offshore wind opposition groups in shock and disarray, many now skeptical of the political support they threw behind President Trump’s 2024 election campaign.
A coalition of commercial fishing groups and community activists in New Jersey and New York beach communities pushed the Trump administration to block Equinor’s planned 810-megawatt Empire Wind project, one of the earliest U.S. turbine array plans dating back to 2017 near the approaches to New York Harbor.
New Jersey-based Clean Ocean Action, an activist group that fought to end ocean dumping in the 1980s and ‘90s, broke with other environmental groups by opposing Empire Wind. The Trump turnaround was a bitter shock.
“The Trump administration appeared to agree with the lack of answers and serious risks by demanding a pause of offshore wind to address the serious gaps, threats, and irresponsibility. That seems to now be gone with the wind,” the group said in a May 19 statement.
“Today, the Trump administration capitulated to N.Y. Governor Hochul’s demands to reinstate the paused project off the Jersey Shore without any new protections or improvements for the ocean, including for marine mammals, yet also claiming the project is still under ‘ongoing review.’ This double speak puts the region’s marine life, clean ocean economies, public safety, and national security at great risk.”
One southern New Jersey congressman, Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., played a role in blocking two wind projects off his district’s beaches. During a May 2024 presidential campaign rally with Van Drew at Wildwood, N.J., Trump promised to end offshore wind development “on day one” if elected.
When the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a stop-work order on Empire Wind April 16, anti-wind activists hoped it was just the first of other dominos toppling against the nascent industry. In a May 19 posting on Facebook, Van Drew urged supporters to remember “it’s specific to one, and only one, project that has already begun construction off the coast of another state where they have a very different attitude to such projects.”
“I have spoken to the Trump administration and was glad to receive their reassurance that this changes absolutely nothing in regards to the ill-conceived projects that were originally planned off the coast of South Jersey and thanks to our efforts are literally dead in the water.”
The New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association is another group that hoped Empire Wind would be a tipping point. Instead its members this week are eyeing the approach of the Thialf, a 661’x290’ semi-submersible crane vessel, operated by Netherlands-based Heerema Marine Contractors under the Panamanian flag, coming to installed turbine towers on the Equinor lease.
“NEFSA is deeply concerned about the administration’s decision to greenlight Empire Wind, a foreign-owned development project that will destroy historic American fishing jobs,” said Dustin Delano, NEFSA’s chief operating officer. “Empire Wind will close highly productive fishing grounds and irreversibly alter the marine environment. Commercial fishing communities in Long Island and New Jersey may not survive this unfortunate decision.”
“Fishermen were among President Trump’s strongest supporters, which makes his administration’s reversal on this issue all the more disappointing,” said Delano. “We continue to believe the president can stand with us and take meaningful action to protect our livelihoods and coastal communities.”
