{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415214", "TAPinto Gold Coast article on Trump administration's halting of offshore wind projects'Federal Pause Hits Offshore Wind Projects Planned Off the Jersey Shore and Along the East Coast'", "2025-12-23", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher H. Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", "chrissmith", "https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "By Jim Lonergan\n\nPublished December 23, 2025 at 9:51 AM\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 The Trump administration has ordered a suspension of construction and lease activity for five major offshore wind projects along the East Coast, including Empire Wind, which is planned off the New Jersey and New York coasts. Federal officials cited national security concerns, specifically the potential for large offshore wind turbines to interfere with military and civilian radar systems used for aviation and maritime navigation.\n\nThe pause, announced by the U.S. Departments of the Interior and Defense, applies not only to future permitting but also to projects that were already approved, under construction, or still in the development phase. Administration officials said the action is intended to allow time for additional review and coordination between federal agencies, the military, and project developers.\n\nThe five offshore wind projects affected by the suspension are:\n\nEmpire Wind 1 (New York\u2013New Jersey coast), developed by Equinor\n\nVineyard Wind 1 (off Massachusetts), the nation\u2019s first large-scale offshore wind farm\n\nRevolution Wind (off Rhode Island and Connecticut), led by \u00d8rsted\n\nSunrise Wind (off New York), also developed by \u00d8rsted\n\nCoastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW), a Dominion Energy project off Virginia\n\nTogether, these projects represent several gigawatts of planned renewable energy capacity and had been central to state and federal clean energy goals along the Eastern Seaboard.\n\nPhoto Credit: shutterstock/ShutterDesigner\n\nRep. Chris Smith (R\u2013NJ), a long-time critic of offshore wind development, welcomed the administration\u2019s decision, saying it validates concerns he has raised for years regarding radar interference and national security risks. Smith has argued that offshore wind turbines can create radar \u201cclutter\u201d that may weaken or disrupt systems relied upon by the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Armed Forces. Click HERE for Rep. Smith's deeper explanation of the risks posed.\n\nSmith pointed to an April 2025 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report examining offshore wind\u2019s impact on radar systems, a study he said he requested with other members of Congress. He also cited legislation he sponsored that passed the U.S. House in 2023 requiring certification that offshore wind projects would not interfere with military or aviation radar capabilities.\n\nEmpire Wind has drawn particular scrutiny because of its proximity to major transportation and defense infrastructure, including Newark Liberty International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, and JFK, as well as Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst and Naval Weapons Station Earle in New Jersey.\n\nWe spoke with Rep. Smith about the offshore wind pause, and he said, \u201cThis has been one of my deepest concerns and an issue I have fought since day one. The fact that these risks were never fully tested, and that the previous administration would not certify the projects as safe, is alarming and, at best, negligent. You don\u2019t move forward with projects of this magnitude \u2014 especially in close proximity to critical military installations and major airports \u2014 without first proving they pose no risk to national security, aviation safety, or maritime operations.\u201d\n\nLocal Impact: Offshore Turbines and Transmission Lines: Beyond Empire Wind, the federal pause comes as offshore wind development tied to the Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind South also fall under the Federal pause. The project, which we've written about at length, would place turbines roughly nine miles off Long Beach Island, while its onshore transmission lines would affect Sea Girt, Manasquan, Wall Township, and Howell. Plans call for subsea cables to make landfall near the Sea Girt National Guard Training Center before running underground through local corridors to grid connections in Howell. Officials and residents in those communities have raised concerns about construction disruption, long-term infrastructure impacts, environmental effects, and potential costs associated with hosting offshore wind transmission infrastructure.\n\nBeyond national security, critics have raised concerns about the potential impact of offshore wind projects on commercial and recreational fishing, marine ecosystems, and coastal tourism. Opponents have also questioned the cost of large-scale offshore wind development and the financial burden it could place on taxpayers and ratepayers.\n\nOffshore wind developers and clean energy industry groups told Reuters that several of the paused projects had already undergone years of federal environmental and security review. They cautioned that suspending construction could delay clean energy goals, disrupt supply chains, and impact jobs tied to offshore wind manufacturing, port infrastructure, and maritime construction across multiple states.\n\nThe administration has not released a timeline for completing its review or for determining whether the projects could resume under revised conditions or additional mitigation measures. For now, construction activity on all five projects remains paused.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415214"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 3.0852779746055603, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}