Burgum emphasised that the Trump administration would continue to place the safety of American citizens above all else
Washington DC [US], December 23, 2025, BNN Web Staff: The United States Department of the Interior has announced a temporary suspension of leases for five large offshore wind projects currently under construction, citing national security concerns flagged in recently completed classified assessments by the Department of War.
According to an official statement, the pause is intended to provide time for the Interior Department, the Department of War, and other concerned federal agencies to engage with leaseholders and state governments to evaluate whether the identified risks can be mitigated.
US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said safeguarding national security remains the government’s foremost responsibility.
He noted that the decision reflects emerging security challenges, including advancements in adversarial technologies and potential vulnerabilities linked to the proximity of large offshore wind installations to densely populated areas along the US East Coast.
Burgum emphasised that the Trump administration would continue to place the safety of American citizens above all else.
The projects affected by the decision include Vineyard Wind 1, Revolution Wind, CVOW Commercial, Sunrise Wind, and Empire Wind 1.
The Department of the Interior further stated that unclassified government studies have long pointed to security-related issues associated with offshore wind infrastructure.
These include radar interference—commonly referred to as “clutter”—caused by the movement of turbine blades and reflections from tall structures, which can obscure genuine targets or create false signals on defence radar systems.
A 2024 report by the US Department of Energy highlighted that while increasing radar detection thresholds may reduce such clutter, it also raises the risk of missing real targets, thereby posing operational challenges for national defence systems.
Defending the move on social media platform X, Burgum criticised offshore wind projects as costly and unreliable, describing them as heavily dependent on government subsidies.
He argued that such projects impose significantly higher electricity costs on consumers compared to traditional energy sources.
Burgum further claimed that electricity rates from the five paused offshore wind projects are, on average, substantially higher than existing grid prices on the East Coast.
He also stated that offshore wind power is far more expensive than natural gas, particularly in New England, where he said it costs several times more than gas-based energy.
The development comes amid broader criticism of renewable energy policies by US President Donald Trump.
During his address at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2025, Trump questioned mainstream climate science, labelled climate change narratives as misleading, and criticised the global push towards renewable energy, reiterating his administration’s preference for conventional energy sources.
