Episode Details

Allen covers the Trump administration’s suspension of five East Coast offshore wind leases on national security grounds, and the wave of lawsuits from developers like Equinor and Ørsted calling the reasoning pretextual. Plus Bill Gates-backed startup Airloom showcases its low-profile turbine design at CES 2026, and Brazil opens consultation on curtailment compensation for renewables.

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Five major offshore wind projects sit idle today. Billions of dollars in equipment. Thousands of workers. All waiting.

President Trump has made no secret of his feelings about wind power.

He has called offshore wind a scam. He has said these projects cost too much. He has compared them unfavorably to natural gas.

Big ugly windmills, he calls them.

His administration has moved aggressively to stop them.

First came executive orders suspending federal approvals. Then stop-work orders on projects already under construction.

In December, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management took the boldest step yet.

It suspended the federal leases for five East Coast projects.

The reason given: national security risks identified by the Department of War in recently classified reports.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum explained that wind turbine blade movement can interfere with radar systems. He pointed to vulnerabilities created by large-scale projects near population centers.

The companies building these projects see it differently.

Empire Wind called the reasoning hollow and pretextual.

In court filings, the company pointed to statements from the Secretary of Interior and the White House. The real motivation, they argued, relates to the administration’s opposition to offshore wind energy.

Not national security.

Politics.

These are not small projects.

Empire Wind is sixty percent complete. Four billion dollars invested. Nearly four thousand workers employed during construction. When finished, it would power half a million New York homes.

Its parent company, Norwegian energy giant Equinor, says it has coordinated closely with federal officials on national security reviews since twenty-seventeen. It has complied with every requirement.

Revolution Wind is eighty-seven percent finished. A five billion dollar venture between Danish com