Fate of offshore wind near Ocean City now lies in the hands of the Trump Admin.

OCEAN CITY, Md. – With the stroke of President Donald Trump’s pen, the future of offshore wind near Ocean City now lies in the hands of his incoming U.S. Secretary of the Department of the Interior, Doug Burgum.

Among the slew of executive orders signed by President Trump on Monday was an order to temporarily halt the leasing of offshore wind in federal waters. According to the Associated Press, that order pauses all approvals, permits, and loans for both onshore and offshore wind projects.

Currently, U.S. Wind is working to buy two properties in the West Ocean City commercial maritime harbor to support their offshore wind project. The company has already obtained their federal permit, which was approved under the Biden Administration, so while the permit pause doesn’t apply to them, a review that’s on the horizon that was part of the executive order will.

Congressman Andy Harris tells us how the executive order also requires a federal review to be conducted by the U.S. Department of the Interior for all of the offshore wind energy projects that were already approved. This could leave the project near Ocean City dead in the water.

“It instructs the Executive Branch, especially the Secretary of the Interior, to review the way these things were done to make sure that they have passed all of the environmental, the defense-related, the commercial, economic hurdles that have to be hurdled,” Congressman Harris continued. “And, I think what they’re going to find is that the Biden Administration did shortcuts on all of them.”

The federal review, which would be spearheaded by incoming Interior Secretary, could halt the project near Ocean City for a number of different reasons, according to Congressman Harris.

“For instance, if you don’t build a certain number of windmills, it doesn’t make sense to do it, and the Secretary, after review, could determine that these are just too many windmills given the environment,” Congressman Harris said. “They could determine that, for instance, that the effect on marine animals, like whales, is just not worth it. They could make an economic argument that the cost of offshore wind is so high, both directly to ratepayers and indirectly through the federal tax subsidies, that it hinders our national energy security.”

Meanwhile, in neighboring Delaware, Senate Republicans praised the President’s measure and issued a joint statement today calling on Burgum to revoke the permit and stop the project off the coast of Ocean City.

“We respectfully urge President Trump and incoming Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to revoke the existing lease and permits for the Ocean City offshore wind project,” the Senate Republican Caucus wrote. “Taking this action would demonstrate a continued commitment to protecting coastal economies, navigation safety, and environmental integrity.”

We reached out to U.S. Wind who issued the following statement, saying they look forward to working with the new administration.

“US Wind’s projects are poised to deliver on the President’s promise of achieving American energy dominance, especially now that we have received all of our federal permits,” said Nancy Sopko, U.S. Wind’s Vice President of External Affairs. “The energy we will produce off Maryland’s shores will help to meet the region’s unquenchable thirst for new electricity, power more than 600,000 homes, and support good American jobs. We will be at the forefront of an American manufacturing renaissance that relies heavily on American steel by establishing a new factory at the old Bethlehem Steel facility in Baltimore. This site, once used to produce the steel beams for the Empire State Building, will rise again to meet the demands of a new American industry. We look forward to working with the new administration to fully realize the potential of American ingenuity and innovation.”