One of the early decision points facing President-elect Donald Trump will be what to do about the Biden administration’s expensive and destructive offshore wind farm projects in the Northeast Atlantic.
President Biden decided early in his administration to make federal funding and expedited permitting for a growing number of these large industrial facilities a top priority, but progress so far has been stagnant and in some cases slow. has had disastrous results. (Related: Frank Rich: Like Administrative Arson, Bad Ideas in California Spread Like Wildfire)
Acting to halt the installation of hundreds of giant wind turbines in the midst of known whale habitat and major commercial fishing waters is clearly a priority for Trump and his team. Congressman Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) announced on Monday he”work closely together”, he met with President Trump and drafted an executive order that would halt offshore wind power construction for six months, with a view to halting it permanently.
“These offshore wind projects should never have been approved in the first place.” Van Drew saidthe beaches of their hometown are littered with dozens of them. whale carcass since development began. “The Biden administration has muscled through the approval process without proper oversight, transparent lease agreements, or a full understanding of its devastating consequences, which are an economic and environmental disaster. I’m waiting for what’s going to happen.” (Related: David Blackmon: ESG is collapsing and net zero is on the way with it)
Van Drew characterized the Biden administration’s Green New Deal as “toxic” and one that puts politics over people. ” add“This executive order is just the beginning. We will fight tooth and nail to ensure this offshore wind disaster does not wreak havoc on the hardworking people who call our coastal towns home.”
In their eagerness to fast-track these hugely expensive and inefficient wind projects, there is little question that Biden regulators essentially abandoned what are known as “projects.” do not have.precautionary principle” the same regulatory authority has always applied to offshore oil and gas and other major projects in federal waters.
The precautionary principle essentially warns regulators to act on the adage “better to be safe than sorry.” The law states that lack of scientific or conclusive evidence should not be cited as a reason for inaction when there is a risk of serious harm to the environment or animal life. This principle places the burden of proof on those who deny that their projects are harmful.
This principle has been used many times by U.S. offshore federal regulators to shut down oil and gas projects for years at a time so that appropriate environmental studies can be conducted under applicable laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act. Ta.nepa) and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (Oxla).
The Biden White House recently cited OCSLA for plausibly stating that future generations across 625 million acres of federal waters are “too dangerous” to enjoy billions in benefits. was too eager to justify a ban on drilling. Barrels of oil are known to lie beneath these waters. This is a ridiculous overreach, but it is also an example of exercising the precautionary principle.
But starting in 2022, communities from New Jersey to Maine have expressed serious concerns about the potential for these large-scale wind industry projects to negatively impact marine mammals, seabirds, and local commercial fisheries. , Biden’s regulators are throwing the precautionary principle aside.
At issue here is another principle that President Trump must address: the equal and consistent application of American law. This is the principle the Biden administration has chosen to abandon in its zeal to enact its green agenda, from the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline to unjustified LNG. Allow pause.
This practice, where billions of dollars of investment are lost on the whims of executives, makes it much more difficult for corporate executives to take on large-scale projects in this country. Who would want to risk billions of dollars on a project when it becomes impossible to predict how the law will be applied by a future president?
President Trump would be wise to put restoring these two key tenets of ocean energy development at the top of his priority list.
David Blackmon is a Texas-based energy writer and consultant. He spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, specializing in public policy and communications.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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