Court orders restart of all US offshore wind power construction
by ck2 on 2/2/2026, 10:45:04 PM
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/02/court-orders-restart-of-all-us-offshore-wind-construction/
Comments
by: softwaredoug
If these projects ultimately end up canceled they’ll be the largest “mostly done” infrastructure projects to be cancelled. A huge waste. And a monument to US incompetency.
2/2/2026, 11:22:12 PM
by: pjdesno
In the 70s the oil companies were furious that Venezuela (if my understanding is correct) revoked their leases and forced them to abandon their equipment investments.<p>That's basically what the administration was trying to do here, under a legal system which (unlike Venezuela in the 70s) is very keen on protecting corporate investment. It seems like a classic "takings" case.
2/2/2026, 11:15:02 PM
by: ggm
posted this at ars forum: (it should be clear I think it was a stupid move by the WH, but I am trying to think what might have "informed" it)<p>Steelmanning the risks, its the link to mainland as a weakness in supply chain of power, compared to onshore sources possibly. But, the construction is in close water, well inside the exclusive economic zone. You would think passage of a craft capable of causing a power shock with an anchor chain was raising hackles well before this, because it's hugely unusual for a warcraft of another nation to be that close without an explicit permit. Under the Jones act, all inshore commercial craft delivering goods to and from named ports have to be US badged, for international shipping it's clear from the baltic there's a concrete risk, but that's a matter of policing the boats, not banning the structures at risk.<p>A second steelman might be some belief about the intermittency. Thats easily knocked over because the system as a whole is building out storage and continuity systems, is adapting to a mix of technology with different power availability throughout the day, and of all the sources of power, wind is one of the most easily predicted to a useful window forward. You know roughly when a dunkelflaut is expected inside 48h, if you don't know exactly when, or for how long. Thats well north of the spin-up time for alternative (dirty) sources of power, if your storage capacity isn't there yet to handle it.
2/2/2026, 10:58:13 PM
by: aussieguy1234
Trump banning offshore wind projects is why oil and gas workers vote for him.<p>The only way they can keep their jobs working on vastly inferior, dangerous technology is to ban new, safer, better technology.
2/3/2026, 1:44:12 AM
by: einpoklum
<i>Judge</i>: "Why were these projects put on hold?"<p><i>Government lawyers</i>: "Uh, well, we could tell you, but then we'd have to kill you."<p>Now, I would point out how the US is making itself into a joke, but I'm afraid the joke's on us, because carbon output is not decreasing dramatically like it must, and the effects of global warming will, slowly but surely, become worse with every passing year. I live in a region where warming is predicted to be near twice the global average, so I'm particularly worried about what it's going to be like when I'm old, or in the generation following mine.
2/2/2026, 11:18:23 PM
by: sandworm101
I am all for green energy, but these windfarms were designed years ago. Since then, solar has progressed in leaps whereas wind has not. Im not so sure that fighting the olds over wind farms is the fight worth winning. Let them cancel the wind farms if that means a free hand to develop solar.
2/2/2026, 11:28:32 PM
by: petcat
3 more years. I don't know who the Dems can elect to go against JD Vance, maybe Tim Walz, but they need somebody.
2/2/2026, 11:50:10 PM