By Hadley Barndollar | HBarndollar@masslive.com

President Donald Trump’s cessation of new offshore wind projects as one of his first matters of business sent a chill throughout the multi-billion dollar industry that’s taken root across the nation.Advocates in New England, however, are confident the region’s wind projects already fully permitted by the feds are likely untouchable to the Trump administration, such as Vineyard Wind 1, Revolution Wind and New England Wind 1 and 2.

Federal interference would undoubtedly end up in court and require the government to provide compensation to developers for any losses.

“Our overall feeling is that those projects that are already fully permitted are in pretty good shape,” said Kate Sinding Daly, senior vice president for law and policy at the Conservation Law Foundation.

Projects earlier in the process, however, are likely entangled in uncertainty.

Trump’s offshore wind executive order, signed on Inauguration Day, halted all new offshore wind leases in federal waters and directed the Secretary of the Interior to “conduct a comprehensive review of the ecological, economic and environmental necessity of terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases, identifying any legal bases for such removal.”

The executive order also states, “Nothing in this withdrawal affects rights under existing leases in the withdrawn areas.”

Revoking existing federal permits or leases would not be “easily accomplished legally,” Sinding Daly said.

Trump’s efforts to stifle wind development come during a major growth spurt for the industry, one that is expected to create 56,000 jobs nationally and invest $65 billion in the economy by 2030, according to a market report released last summer by American Clean Power, an industry group representing renewable energy companies.

“While it’s not helpful that these executive orders are coming out, they can’t unring the bell,” Jeremy McDiarmid, who oversees state and regional policy activities in New England for Advanced Energy United, said of the clean energy momentum.

Gov. Maura Healey has said Massachusetts will continue to support the offshore wind industry and its injection of jobs. She noted “a lot of governors,” in both red and blue states, have “gone big on offshore wind.”

Others are pleased with Trump’s day-one actions to pull back on offshore wind.

“After four years of rushing leases and approvals to wind industry insiders, President Trump’s new directive will bring fairness and order to offshore wind development,” said Jerry Leeman, CEO of the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association, an anti-wind organization. “Anyone committed to protecting our natural resources should welcome these changes.”

Status of New England wind projects

There are at least 10 wind projects in New England currently at varying stages of development and permitting.

One project, South Fork Wind off Block Island, was completed last year. Vineyard Wind 1, Revolution Wind and New England Wind 1 and 2 are the next projects furthest along.

Advocates are most confident about Vineyard 1 and Revolution Wind because they’re under construction.

Vineyard Wind 1, with 62 planned turbines, is being built 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Once fully operational, it’s expected to generate energy for more than 400,000 homes and businesses across the state. The project was temporarily paused last summer after a blade fell from a turbine, but it has since resumed construction.

Revolution Wind, the nation’s first multi-state wind farm, will provide energy for more than 350,000 homes across Rhode Island and Connecticut.

A spokesperson for Ørsted, the Danish developer behind Revolution Wind, said, “We’re in the process of reviewing the White House’s executive order on wind to assess the impact on our portfolio.”

Vineyard Wind, jointly owned by Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, declined to comment for this story.

Fully permitted by the federal government but yet to begin construction, Avangrid’s New England Wind 1 and 2, also located south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, could eventually power up to 1 million homes and businesses in southern New England.

Avangrid did not return a request for comment regarding its New England Wind 1 and 2 projects.

Other projects further away from completion include Vineyard Wind 2 and SouthCoast Wind, the latter of which received final federal approval in the last days of the Biden administration. Beacon Wind and Starboard Wind are in the planning phases. Four leases in the Gulf of Maine were auctioned off in October to developers Invenergy and Avangrid.

‘Very challenging to halt those projects’

Developers have stayed relatively mum on potential impacts to their projects, likely avoiding any ire from Trump. Kelt Wilska, offshore wind director for the Environmental League of Massachusetts, said the president’s executive order includes a “spectrum of vulnerability.”

Projects under construction are likely the most secure, followed by those already fully permitted by the feds.

“It would be very challenging to halt those projects, to dismantle them,” said Wilska, who also leads a regional coalition called New England for Offshore Wind. “You would really need some kind of emergency to stop those projects in their tracks, and it would cause economic devastation.”

“The developers have invested a lot of money in these things, there are a lot of supply chain contracts,” he continued. “The federal government would need to compensate these developers for their losses.”

Sinding Daly echoed that “any attempt to pull back leases would require compensation at presumably pretty significant levels.” A permit revocation would also mean a new rulemaking process, she added, which is “resource intensive” and subject to judicial review.

Joe Curtatone, former Somerville mayor and now president of the Alliance for Climate Transition, noted the processes to bring a new wind project online are “long runways” that “will transcend the length of a Trump administration.”

“The projects that have been fully permitted, there’s nothing undoing those,“ Curtatone said. ”Any attempted slow down ... there is legally vested interest and financial implications. Billions of dollars already invested in the wind farms and affiliated industries in shipping, metal, fabricating."

The New Bedford Light recently reported there is precedent in this situation. In 2021, former President Joe Biden issued an order to halt oil and gas leasing. It was overturned in federal court a year and a half later.

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