Apr. 24—The federal government has directed the University of Maine to halt activity on $15.8 million in offshore wind research projects, including a floating turbine that is over a decade in the making and weeks away from a final launch off the coast of Castine.
The University of Maine System received a letter from the U.S. Department of Energy on April 11 saying it was suspending the projects for “failure to comply” with federal policies, but did not specify which ones.
The notice came just hours after contractors had towed an important piece of the university’s major project, a 375-ton concrete floating hull, to Mack Point, an industrial port in Searsport, university spokesperson Samantha Warren said. And researchers and contractors were just weeks from finalizing the installation of the floating offshore wind turbine.
Now, officials are rushing to figure out why the funding was rescinded, and what they should do next. The letter “makes no specific allegations, nor is UMaine aware of any previous concerns or investigation into its compliance,” Warren said.
The Department of Energy also suspended two related offshore wind projects earlier this week, Warren said. In total, the department has halted the remaining $4.5 million in funding for all three projects.
The funding halt is one of the many that the Trump administration has made against in Maine since February, when Gov. Janet Mills and President Donald Trump began arguing over the state allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls sports. The UMaine System was briefly investigated by the Trump administration for Title IX violations, during which the system “clearly communicated its compliance,” Warren said.
Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, is among those who see the halt as continued retaliation against the state.
“Current evidence suggests this issue specifically targets Maine without justification,” Pingree said in an email.
But the suspension also aligns with Trump’s stance on offshore wind development. And unlike the steps Maine’s congressional delegation has taken on other funding cuts, there might not be much to do about a change in policy.
“The new administration clearly has different energy priorities than the previous administration,” a spokesperson for Republican Sen. Susan Collins said in an email Wednesday.
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A spokesperson for the energy department said the suspension is a standard procedure, as the agency reviews all projects to ensure they follow the law and align with the administration’s priorities. The department said it is following through on Trump’s promise to “unleash ‘American Energy Dominance.'”
Others in Maine see the freeze as a win. Many fishermen and their advocates are concerned that offshore wind will hurt their industry on many fronts. And they hope this suspension is the start of a new pattern.
“This isn’t just about one turbine off Castine,” said Dustin Delano with New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association. “It’s about setting a precedent for industrializing our oceans without fully understanding the long-term impacts on fisheries, marine ecosystems and coastal communities.”
ENDING OFFSHORE WIND
The administration’s new platform leaves Maine in a predicament. The state has committed to leading the country — and world — in offshore wind development as a clean-energy alternative, identifying offshore wind as a tool in meeting its goal of 100% renewably produced power by 2040, according to the 2023 Maine Offshore Wind Roadmap.
The day he took office, Trump issued a memorandum temporarily halting offshore wind lease sales in federal waters and pausing approvals, permits and loans for onshore and offshore wind projects. He also launched a review of federal wind leasing and permitting practices.
That immediately put Maine projects at risk, including commercial offshore wind leases in the Gulf of Maine; a state research site, also in the Gulf of Maine; and plans to build a terminal on Sears Island to assemble turbines.
Trump had written that the withdrawal did not affect the rights under existing leases, but directed Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and Attorney General Pam Bondi to conduct comprehensive reviews of existing wind energy leases to identify “any legal bases for such removal.”
Trump has for years attacked wind power as harmful to wildlife, instead promising to increase production of fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal, which he says will provide lower cost energy and electricity.
Days after the UMaine System received its notification, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management also halted all construction on a massive, multibillion dollar offshore wind farm off the coast of Long Island, New York.
BUYING TIME OR NO TIME TO WASTE?
Pingree said this suspension stands to “sabotage” the state’s growth in the offshore wind industry.
“The economic future of our state, our environmental commitments and the livelihoods of hardworking Mainers depends on a robust commitment to renewable energy innovation,” she said.
And Collins, whose office said she has supported the university’s innovative research in alternative energy, noted the “the direct impact” Trump’s shifting priorities will have on the university’s research funding opportunities.
“If the state government wants to continue some of this work, it will have to provide more of the funding than it has in the past,” her office said in an email.
But Rep. Jared Golden, D-2nd District, said the suspension is necessary — offering an opportunity for researchers to better understand the impacts that offshore wind will have on Maine’s fishing industry.
“For years, I’ve been elevating the voices of Maine fishermen who have been asking valid questions about the effect offshore wind would have on fish populations, marine ecosystems and the future of coastal communities,” Golden said. “Until we know for certain that fishing families and communities would be held harmless by the placement of wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine, I welcome this freeze.”
Fishermen have long worried that installing offshore wind turbines in prime fishing waters will affect the state’s catch. And many believe that researchers haven’t properly evaluated the impact offshore wind will have on the endangered North Atlantic right whale, saying instead that the fishing industry is to blame for the right whale’s dwindling population.
Industry groups are applauding the decision to pause the University of Maine’s project — and the White House’s overall shift away from offshore wind.
“The fishing industry has been adamantly opposed to offshore wind. We are happy and thankful for the suspension,” said Virginia Olsen with the Maine Lobstering Union. “Maine’s lobster industry can not fish around offshore wind. These projects prioritize energy production over harvesting a food source.”
But Jack Shapiro, with the Natural Resources Council of Maine, said that this specific research project will actually help the fishing industry answer questions about how offshore wind can impact marine resources, the fisheries and the environment.
“Groups like (the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association), their message has been, ‘We need more we need more data,'” Shapiro said. “Well, they should be supporting this project, because that’s exactly what this project will provide.”
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