Democratic governors call on Trump to uphold wind permits

Skylar Woodhouse, Bloomberg News on Sep 1, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Democratic governors are pushing back against President Donald Trump’s plans to halt offshore wind developments.

“We are looking for the Trump Administration to uphold all offshore wind permits already granted and allow these projects to be constructed,” said a statement issued Monday by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.

Trump has a deep, long-running dislike of wind farms he’s derided as ugly, bird-killing monstrosities. But his administration has moved more aggressively in recent weeks to restrict their construction, including by blocking projects from obtaining rural development business loans, halting construction of a nearly completed Orsted A/S venture near Rhode Island and moving to invalidate the permit for another planned project off the Maryland coast.

Trump said last week that his administration would not allow windmills to go up “unless there’s a legal situation where somebody committed to it a long time ago.”

“Efforts to walk back these commitments jeopardize hardworking families, wasting years of progress and ceding leadership to foreign competitors,” the governors said in the statement. “Workers, businesses, and communities need certainty, not reversals that would cost tens of thousands of American jobs and critical investment. Sudden reversals would also impact countless other workers and taxpayers on scores of non-energy public projects.”

The administration has focused scrutiny on offshore wind projects where it has unique power; the ventures are planned in federal waters managed by the Interior Department and depend on a slew of U.S. government authorizations. Under former President Joe Biden, the U.S. approved 11 of them.

Trump posted on Truth Social Sunday that “With the exception of ridiculous, corrupt politician approved ‘Windmills,’ which are killing every State and Country that uses them, Energy prices are falling, ‘big time.’”

Trump also said in late August that the U.S. would not approve solar and wind projects that hurt farmland, claiming they are inflating electricity prices.