Trump Lifts Pause on NY Offshore Wind Project, But Does it Come at a Price?

While politicians, environmental groups and union leaders rejoiced that Empire Wind can move forward, some worry the Trump administration’s concession is meant to pressure Gov. Hochul to approve local gas pipeline projects. 

The U.S Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) lifted a month-long stop work order Monday on the New York-based offshore wind project, Empire Wind 1. 

Although it took 14 years to secure federal approvals for the venture, on April 16 the Trump administration had halted work on the project, claiming the approval process had been “rushed.”

But Empire Wind was set to power 500,000 homes in New York City with clean energy and create more than 1,000 union jobs in New York communities, leading environmental groups and politicians to push back on the federal hold. 

“I fought to save clean energy jobs in New York—and we got it done,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement this week. The governor was on the phone with President Donald Trump three times over the weekend, for over an hour each time, fighting to bring the project back, her Deputy Communications Director Paul DeMichele told City Limits.

Although environmentalists applaud the governor’s effort, it’s also spurred speculation that Hochul may have struck a deal with the administration to bring more gas into the state in exchange for lifting the stop-work order. 

President Trump said earlier this year that he wanted to revive fracked gas projects like the Constitution Pipeline, a major venture by the Williams company that sought to transport fracked gas from Pennsylvania to the Southern tier of New York. New York State rejected permits for the project in 2016 and the company pulled out of the venture in 2020.

“I am encouraged by Governor Hochul’s comments about her willingness to move forward on critical pipeline capacity,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, who ordered Empire Wind’s pause, said on the social media platform X hours after the administration agreed to resume the project. 

But the governor’s office told City Limits the social media nod did not mean they agreed to approve any projects in return. 

DeMichele confirmed that during lengthy conversations with Trump over the weekend, gas pipeline projects were brought up, but said “no deal on any natural gas pipeline was reached.”

However, Hochul’s office said the governor is not opposed to pipeline projects more generally, as long as they have undergone the necessary permitting processes issued by the state authorities.

“New York will work with the Administration and private entities on new energy projects that meet the legal requirements under New York law,” the governor said in a statement.

Environmental groups warn that  new gas pipeline projects would usher in more planet-warming emissions into the state, accelerating the impacts of climate change. But utility companies and some experts argue that added gas supply is necessary, saying there still isn’t enough clean energy available to heat New York homes, especially in the winter.

 ‘So much at stake‘

Putting Empire Wind on hold would have dealt a blow to New York’s local economies, City Limits reported earlier this month.

The project, BOEM projects, will generate $195 million in income for New York City and inject $1.6 billion into the state-wide economy during the planning and construction phases, according to developer Equinor.

It also seeks to breathe new life into the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT), an industrial port in Sunset Park that serves as an operational and maintenance hub for Empire Wind and other offshore ventures.

The project ushered in business to the industrial zone, which has long been overlooked for economic investment, into what the city calls “a prime destination for environmentally sustainable industry.”

A Project Labor Agreement (PLA) that Equinor signed for the construction of SBMT guaranteed “over 1,000 union construction jobs and apprenticeships in local New York communities.” The agreement prioritizes hiring union members from the Sunset Park community, and secondarily, union members from New York City. It also gives hiring priority to union members who are NYCHA residents and veterans.

“There was so much at stake for the renewable energy industry, the union employees who would be performing the work, and the opportunities for the surrounding communities to participate in the project,” said Christopher Erikson in a statement. 

Erikson is business manager at Local Union No. 3 IBEW, representing the workers at Sunset Park’s marine terminal.

Despite its reversal on Empire Wind, the Trump administration said it’s still reconsidering a federal grant to build an onshore and offshore wind safety training facility un upstate New York. And an executive order that suspended new leasing and permitting for wind projects is still at large. 

Raking in record donations from the fossil fuel industry while running for office, Trump has continuously positioned himself against non-polluting renewable energy sources like wind and has encouraged drilling for more oil and gas instead.

At the same time, environmental groups worry Gov. Hochul’s commitment to significantly lowering New York’s greenhouse gas emissions may be waning, citing the state’s approval of another pipeline expansion project earlier this year. 

The decision is out of step with New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, they argue. The CLCPA, passed by Albany in 2019, established a roadmap for the state to mostly phase out planet-warming fossil fuels like gas by 2050, and transition to clean energy instead.

“We and others will fight tooth and nail to stop new fracked gas pipelines the state already rejected, if Hochul is doing a deal to approve those. Hell no to that,” said Pete Sikora, climate and inequality campaigns director with New York Communities for Change.

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