Why Trump’s claim that offshore wind is a security risk is ‘ludicrous’

Late last year, the Trump administration halted work on five offshore wind farms under construction, claiming the turbines threatened national security. Courts have since rejected that argument and let work resume on all five projects, three of which are now delivering power to the grid. A similar security rationale used to freeze permits for more than 150 land-based wind projects also looks likely to fail in court.

At a recent energy conference, retired military officers pushed back hard on the security claim. They argued offshore wind actually helps national defense — American wind farms can serve as training grounds where radar operators learn to tell turbine blades apart from other objects, and where submarine crews practice navigating around turbine foundations, skills useful as the U.S. military increasingly operates near offshore wind farms built by China. Some countries, including Belgium and Poland, even use turbines as platforms for radar sensors that improve threat detection. The panel also noted that the five paused wind farms cover a tiny sliver, 0.016 percent, of the Atlantic continental shelf, far too small to pose any real risk.

For homeowners in the Northeast, this mostly matters for grid reliability. Wind farms like Vineyard Wind, South Fork Wind, and Revolution Wind have already helped keep power flowing during recent heat waves and cold snaps. But offshore wind construction has slowed sharply under the administration's policies, with far less capacity expected to be built by 2035 than earlier projected.