Washington, D.C. — Turn Forward Executive Director Hillary Bright issued the following statement after federal judges granted preliminary injunctions allowing construction on 3 offshore wind projects to resume:
“Today’s ruling in Virginia marks the third time in a row that a court has allowed one of the five offshore wind projects suspended in December to resume construction. This is good news for stressed power grids on the East Coast — and also for the ratepayers who will ultimately benefit once these projects are completed.
Each project suspended by the U.S. government could provide enough power for hundreds of thousands of American homes. At a time of rapidly growing electricity demand, the potential impact on our power supplies is enormous. Yet the reverse is also true — if these projects are not allowed to advance, stressed grids along the populous East coast are more likely to experience reliability issues and see ratepayer bills soar.
The Administration wants power-hungry AI to help fuel economic growth and also seeks to solve household affordability issues. Offshore wind aligns with both those goals, bringing utility-scale power to busy coastal regions and shoring up electricity grids gradually growing overtaxed by demand.
With two more projects still stalled over undefined claims regarding national security — and those allowed to proceed still in litigation — we hope the Administration soon comes to understand the immense benefits that these nearly complete power sources can bring to our nation’s energy and national security.”