The Trump administration is blocking more than 150 onshore wind farms across the United States by delaying military reviews that were once considered routine, according to a leading industry trade group.
The delays, which companies said worsened significantly in recent weeks, are the latest escalation in President Trump’s efforts to stop wind power, a technology he detests. Several of the administration’s moves to thwart the construction of wind farms on land and in the ocean have been struck down by courts over the past few months.
Now the administration has held up a large number of onshore wind projects under development on private land, citing national security concerns. These wind farms typically have to undergo a review by the Pentagon before being built to ensure that their turbines won’t interfere with military radar or flight paths. In the past, those reviews have been fairly straightforward, but they have ground to a halt in recent weeks, and the Pentagon has canceled some meetings with developers.
“The Department of War is currently making it almost impossible to build a new wind project in the United States,” said Jason Grumet, chief executive of the American Clean Power Association, which represents renewable energy companies, using the administration’s preferred name for the Defense Department. “It’s a challenging moment to be blockading domestic energy,” he added, noting that demand for electricity is rising fast.
The stalled projects together would have about 30 gigawatts of electric generating capacity if they were built, Mr. Grumet said. One gigawatt can provide enough electricity for more than 300,000 homes, although wind turbines can’t produce power at all hours.
In a statement, a Pentagon spokesman said that the agency was evaluating all onshore wind projects to ensure that they do not impair national security or military operations and that it was a time-consuming process requiring coordination with different agencies.
Mr. Trump has called wind turbines ugly and expensive, and has instead pushed to meet rising power demand with fossil fuels like coal and natural gas. “My goal,” he said in January, “is to not let any windmill be built.”
The delays for the Pentagon’s wind farm reviews began last summer but have become more severe over the past few weeks, according to officials at two renewable energy companies, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations.
Before a large wind farm can begin construction, its developers need to apply for clearances from the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates the national airspace. As part of that process, the F.A.A. will forward the application to the Pentagon, which checks to see whether a project might interfere with military radar or create other problems.
In the past, many wind projects have quickly received “no hazard” determinations — if, for instance, they aren’t located near any military bases — allowing them to move forward. But some projects do create issues, and they typically need to reach a mitigation agreement with the Pentagon. That might involve the company paying to upgrade nearby radar systems or modifying the layout of its turbines.
That process used to be seen as routine. But since last August, the developers of at least 35 large wind farms have negotiated mitigation agreements with the Pentagon but still could not move forward because the deals need a final signature from Dale Marks, the assistant secretary of defense for energy, installations and environment. They have yet to receive that signature, according to the American Clean Power Association.
On March 9, the trade group sent a letter to Mr. Marks asking him to explain the holdup, noting that the stalled projects could face financial difficulties if they continued to be delayed indefinitely.
In April, a Pentagon official sent a reply noting that evaluating wind projects was “inherently complex and time-consuming” and that the agency was concerned that projects had the potential to “to adversely impact or impair military testing, training and operations.” The official did not give a timeline for further reviews but said that the agency would work “efficiently.”
But over the past two weeks, the Pentagon’s reviews have completely ground to a halt, according to the American Clean Power Association. More than 150 wind projects have applied for F.A.A. clearances, the group said, including some that might be expected to receive a quick “no hazard” determination, but companies have been told that all reviews are on hold and no projects can move forward for now.
“They’ve just pulled the blinds on the offices that are obligated to do this work and are not responding to calls, and they’re canceling meetings,” said Mr. Grumet. “It’s an abuse of a legitimate process that has now caused a major part of the energy economy to stall.”
“We agree that there can be issues when you build tall structures that can have effects on radar,” Mr. Grumet added. “But that’s why we have this collaborative process where experts get hired, and you go back and forth and figure out how to mitigate the problem.”
The recent delays were first reported by the Financial Times.
Roughly 15 gigawatts worth of wind projects have already received F.A.A. clearances and are moving forward with development, Mr. Grumet said. Wind developers typically apply for F.A.A. clearance about one to two years before they expect to begin construction.
Wind power currently provides about 10 percent of the nation’s electricity and is a major source of power in Republican-led states like Iowa, Oklahoma, North Dakota and Texas.
The Trump administration has previously cited national security concerns and the risk of radar interference in its opposition to wind farms, including offshore projects. Experts who have researched radar interference from wind farms say that it can be addressed with technological fixes and training for boat captains.
Last year, the Interior Department invoked national security to halt construction of five wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean. But officials did not share specific concerns with developers or explain what might be done to mitigate the impacts.
Earlier this year, several federal judges said that they found the administration’s national security arguments unpersuasive and allowed all five offshore wind farms to proceed with construction. One of those projects, Vineyard Wind, off the coast of Massachusetts, was completed in March and is now sending power to the grid.
In recent months, the Trump administration has tried a different strategy and has paid nearly $2 billion to companies to abandon leases for four offshore wind farms in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. By dealing directly with developers, the administration may be able to avoid legal challenges.
