From Climate Depot
The Lone G.O.P. Governor Opposing Trump’s War on Offshore Wind
President Trump has sought to halt the construction of five giant wind farms off the coasts of Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island — all states run by Democrats.
But there is one East Coast wind farm that has so far escaped the administration’s ire: a $10.8 billion project under construction off the shores of Virginia, where Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, has been its champion.
Mr. Youngkin has quietly pushed back against Mr. Trump’s war on wind energy. A supporter of the president, the governor has privately urged the Trump administration not to target the project known as Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, according to four people briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.
Mr. Youngkin called Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, last month to voice support for the project, according to two of the people briefed on the matter. His office also called the White House in January to express concern about Mr. Trump’s executive order that paused permits for new wind farms on federal lands and waters, two of the individuals said.
The outreach by Mr. Youngkin, which has not previously been reported, highlights a rift within the Republican Party over how to treat offshore wind power. While Mr. Trump has called wind turbines ugly and inefficient, some conservatives have privately acknowledged their potential to lower household energy bills and add power to the electric grid at a time when electricity costs are rising nationwide.
Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind is about 60 percent complete, according to Dominion Energy, the utility behind the project. Once finished, the wind farm would be the nation’s largest, consisting of 176 turbines that could generate about 2.6 gigawatts of electricity, or enough to power up to 660,000 homes. It is on track to be up and running next year.
Demand for electricity in Virginia is currently growing at its fastest pace since World War II, in large part because of a boom in construction of data centers to power artificial intelligence. Northern Virginia is already home to one of the largest concentrations of data centers in the world, and Dominion has estimated that the state’s electricity use could double over the next 15 years.
That demand has threatened to push up electricity prices in the region and has left the utility scrambling for new sources of power. This year, Dominion has proposed rate increases for residential customers that could add $21 per month to electricity bills starting in 2027.
It is unclear whether Mr. Youngkin will prevail in his efforts to save Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind. Its fate could become clearer in the coming months, when Trump officials could indicate in a court filing whether they plan to revoke its federal permits, which were issued under the Biden administration.
A spokesman for Mr. Youngkin, Rob Damschen, did not respond to several requests for comment. A spokesman for Dominion Energy, Jeremy Slayton, declined to comment for this article.
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