Trump halts 5 East Coast wind farms: What to know

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Welcome to The Logoff: President Donald Trump is launching a brand new assault in his one-sided battle in opposition to wind farms.

What occurred? On Monday, the Trump administration introduced it was halting leases for 5 in-progress wind farms off the East Coast over alleged “nationwide safety dangers,” which it has not defined.

The halt means all 5 initiatives, close to Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, should cease building, and one that's already partially on-line should cease operations.

Why does this matter? The administration’s resolution Monday is throwing billions of {dollars} of investments and 1000's of jobs into chaos, setting again US progress on increasing clear power, and doing all of it at a time when rising energy costs have gotten an increasingly potent political issue .

What’s the context? There’s little motive to place a lot inventory within the Trump administration’s fig leaf of “nationwide safety dangers,” notably given the dearth of specifics. For one, Trump has proved keen to lean on “nationwide safety” as a justification for absolutely anything he desires to do, together with his commerce battle and his ambitions to acquire Greenland . And second, the timing is conspicuous: Earlier this month, a federal decide struck down Trump’s previous effort to block new wind farms as a violation of federal regulation.

This halt additionally checks a second field for Trump, who has a long-standing aesthetic grudge in opposition to wind generators relationship again to his failed effort to cease their building close to his golf course in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

And with that, it’s time to log out…

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