On the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, offshore wind leasing has been terminated by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, rescinding all the designated Wind Energy Areas. The action cancels out more than 3.5 million acres of federal waters where offshore wind could be developed in various locations, which is a major policy reversal that analysts believe will be the death knell to future expansion of the industry.
Federal waters removed from development
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) today announced it is rescinding all designated Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), according to the agency’s official statement. This action is being taken in accordance with Secretary’s Order (SO) 3437 – “Ending Preferential Treatment for Unreliable, Foreign Controlled Energy Sources in Department Decision-Making” – and the Presidential Memorandum of January 20, 2025.
WEAs were originally established to identify offshore locations deemed most suitable for wind energy development. By rescinding WEAs, BOEM is ending the federal practice of designating large areas of the OCS for speculative wind development, and is de-designating over 3.5 million acres of unleased federal waters previously targeted for offshore wind development across the Gulf of America, the Gulf of Maine, the New York Bight, California, Oregon, and the Central Atlantic.
Industry faces a complete leasing halt
Large swaths of U.S. waters that had been identified by federal agencies as ideal for offshore wind are no longer eligible for such developments under an Interior Department statement released Wednesday, according to Canary Media. The move comes just a day after Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered his staff to stop “preferential treatment for wind projects” and falsely called wind energy “unreliable.”
“My read on this is that there is not going to be any leasing for offshore wind in the near future,” said a career employee at the Interior Department, who Canary Media granted anonymity so they could speak freely without fear of retribution. The outlook was already grim for new offshore wind leasing activity following President Donald Trump’s executive order in January that introduced a temporary ban on the practice.
Years of planning work were eliminated
Figuring out the best spot to place offshore wind is an involved undertaking. The proposed areas start enormous and, according to the Interior staffer, undergo a careful, multiyear winnowing process to settle on the official “wind energy area.” Smaller lease areas are later carved out of these broader expanses. Wind power advocates say it will erase several years of work from federal agencies and local communities to determine the best possible areas for wind development.
Take the process for designating the wind energy area known as “Central Atlantic 2,” which started back in 2023 and is now dead in the water. The draft area — or “call area” — started as a thick belt roughly 40 miles wide and reached from the southernmost tip of New Jersey to the northern border of South Carolina, according to maps on BOEM’s website.
Multiple agencies provided input
Several agencies, such as the Department of Commerce, the Department of Defense, and NASA, then input into what that initial area might have been problematic. An example is NASA, which has a launch facility at Wallops Island in Virginia, and in 2024, it discovered that wind turbines near the facility may disrupt the instrumentation and radio signals used by the agency.
The move by BOEM to cancel all specially designated Wind Energy Areas can be seen as an extreme change in policy that will effectively end offshore wind development in federal waters. Removing 3.5 million acres of possible areas of development will compel the industry to take years before any future administration can reinitiate the convoluted designation procedure, which will further postpone the American offshore wind project and renewable energy switchover objectives.