When Biden was in office, one of his top priorities was a green energy agenda.
Biden spent billions of taxpayer dollars to establish himself as the greenest modern-day president, but that legacy is now largely dead.
As the Biden administration was winding down, Joe approved two massive offshore wind projects before turning over the White House to Donald Trump.
In March 2024, Biden approved the seventh offshore wind project in the United States, giving the go-ahead for the Danish wind energy developer Ørsted and the utility Eversource.
In April 2024, the administration approved the eighth offshore wind project in the country. When that project was approved, Secretary Deb Haaland stated, “The Biden-Harris administration has built an offshore wind industry from the ground up after years of delay from the previous administration.
“Today, we celebrate the incredible progress being made toward achieving our goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030. The New England Wind project will help lower consumer costs, combat climate change, create jobs to support families, and ensure economic opportunities are accessible to all communities.”
Even though Biden had just greenlit two more projects, the administration faced more than a few challenges when projects were canceled in the midst of the term.
For instance, Danish wind energy developer Ørsted, who had received the approval for one of the projects above, canceled its New Jersey offshore projects.
Ocean Wind I and II were both shut down in November 2023, costing Biden about 20% of his projected offshore wind production.
Even though the administration was facing serious challenges, Timothy Fox, a ClearView vice president, tried to give an upbeat picture, stating, “I think very few people would argue that the U.S. will have the gigawatts the Biden administration want. But I do think eventually we will have it and will likely exceed it.”
I would love to hear what Fox has to say after Trump dropped a bombshell on Biden’s green energy agenda this week, canceling the Empire Wind Project.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum broke the news, stating, “Staff of the Department of the Interior has obtained information that raises serious issues with respect to the project approvals for the Empire Wind Project.
“Approval for the project was rushed through by the prior administration without sufficient analysis or consultation among the relevant agencies as relates to the potential effects from the project. This halt is to remain in effect until further review is completed to address these serious deficiencies.”
Wind energy has always been a bit of a mystery to me in terms of how it is actually green, when you consider the work that needs to be done to install and build the windmills, the transportation of the parts, and the oil needed to lubricate and winterize the windmills, all which are far more expensive when you are offshore and have to protect against the salt water. I really question if they can ever produce enough energy to offset the carbon footprint made to get them operational and maintain them.
