Trump’s Wind EO Means We Can Still Save The Gulf Of Maine

by Steve MacDonald

Donald Trump spent several hours after his swearing-in undoing what damage he could from the Biden regime. Hundreds of actions, from the border to ditching the Paris Climate Agreement and the WHO, opening up fossil fuel energy development and putting the brakes on Wind Farm leases. No new leases will be issued, and those in process will be halted. (Related: Can Donald Trump Save the Gulf of Maine?)

The Executive order is quite clear that,

Under the authority granted to me in section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. 1341(a), I hereby withdraw from disposition for wind energy leasing all areas within the Offshore Continental Shelf (OCS) as defined in section 2 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. 1331.  This withdrawal shall go into effect beginning on January 21, 2025, and shall remain in effect until this Presidential Memorandum is revoked.

The Gulf of Maine leases, having already been sold, are not affected directly, meaning they do not cease to be simply because President Trump signed the order; there is, however, a chance they could be tossed out.

Nothing in this withdrawal affects rights under existing leases in the withdrawn areas.  With respect to such existing leases, the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Attorney General as needed, shall conduct a comprehensive review of the ecological, economic, and environmental necessity of terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases, identifying any legal bases for such removal, and submit a report with recommendations to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy.

Dig into the remainder of the order, and you will find concerns about the “alleged legal deficiencies underlying the Federal Government’s leasing and permitting of onshore and offshore wind projects.” It appears as if the Biden Administration’s various agencies, in their rush to approve projects, may not have done their due diligence or exercised the facets of the process as required by law. A formal challenge to that process – and we know that the Gulf of Main OSW was rammed through against significant objection to prevent what Mr. Trump is doing from stopping it – would likely place all leases and development on hold while the appropriate agencies examined it.

Given how sloppily this was handled, it shouldn’t take much to attract the feds’ attention. They don’t want any wind farm development, especially offshore, so to all you activists out there – find a lawyer willing to challenge the process (or whatever the official, formal means or language), and you can problem get those leases tossed.

Or, if you happen to have a Republican member of Congress handy, we don’t have any of those in New Hampshire. That might speed things along.

I suppose you could ask the governor, but I’m not sure where she stands on this, and Granite State Govs have a way of answering to developers, so (maybe) try the other ideas first.

Author

  • Steve MacDonald

    Steve is a long-time New Hampshire resident, award-winning blogger, and a member of the Board of Directors of The 603 Alliance. He is the owner of Grok Media LLC and the Managing Editor, Executive Editor, assistant editor, Editor, content curator, complaint department, Op-ed editor, gatekeeper (most likely to miss typos because he has no editor), and contributor at GraniteGrok.com. Steve is also a former board member of the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire, The Republican Volunteer Coalition, has worked for or with many state and local campaigns and grassroots groups, and is a past contributor to the Franklin Center for Public Policy.

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