Keith Lusher 09.05.25
The Bureau of Ocean Power Administration introduced this week it has rescinded all designated Wind Power Areas on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, successfully terminating federal plans for offshore wind growth throughout greater than 3.5 million acres of ocean waters.
The sweeping determination eliminates 11 beforehand designated areas spanning a number of areas, together with the Gulf of America, North Carolina coast, Gulf of Maine, Oregon, and California’s Morro Bay. The canceled zones embrace 4 areas off Texas and Louisiana, three off North Carolina, roughly 2 million acres in New England waters, and two floating wind areas totaling 195,000 acres off Oregon.
“By rescinding WEAs, BOEM is ending the federal observe of designating massive areas of the OCS for speculative wind growth,” the company acknowledged in its announcement.
The motion follows Inside Secretary Doug Burgum’s Order 3437, which goals to finish “preferential therapy for unreliable, international managed vitality sources” in federal decision-making. This builds on President Trump’s January 20 presidential memorandum that briefly withdrew all Outer Continental Shelf areas from offshore wind leasing.
The offshore wind business had projected $65 billion in investments by 2030, supporting an estimated 56,000 jobs with important advantages for U.S. shipbuilding and maritime operations. These projections now face uncertainty because the Trump administration reverses the earlier administration’s aim of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capability by 2030.
Industrial fishing teams have welcomed the choice. The New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Affiliation and different fishing organizations have lengthy argued that offshore wind initiatives disrupt marine ecosystems and conventional fishing grounds. Fishermen have raised issues about electromagnetic fields from underwater cables affecting lobster larvae and turbine-related water disturbances impacting fish populations.
The choice additionally addresses issues about whale mortality alongside the East Coast, which some fishing advocates have linked to offshore wind surveying actions.
Whereas present lease rights stay unaffected, the order mandates complete evaluate of present wind vitality leases for potential termination or modification. The Inside Division promised “extra significant session” with tribes, fishing communities, and coastal cities relating to any future offshore vitality growth.
The administration’s actions symbolize a big coverage reversal from federal offshore wind growth that had been deliberate and studied since 2014.
