President Donald Trump on Thursday praised Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., for his work in drafting the executive order he signed to halt offshore wind turbine projects on the East Coast.
"A special thank you to great New Jersey Congressman Jeff Van Drew for his fight against a large scale Windmill DISASTER off the coast of Southern New Jersey," Trump wrote in the post. "It needed MASSIVE GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY that was impossible to justify."
"Hopefully the project is dead and gone, as almost all unsightly and environmentally unsound Windmill project should be," he said. "Congratulations to the great people of New Jersey. You have FINALLY won your war on stupidity!!!"
Trump on Monday signed an executive order establishing a temporary national moratorium on approving new federal leases for wind turbine projects or renewing existing leases, whether for offshore projects or those on dry land.
The Cherry Hill Courier-Post reported that the six-month moratorium took effect on Tuesday and significantly affects New Jersey, where plans for offshore wind turbines have been hotly debated for some time.
The permitting process for offshore wind turbines was also halted by the president’s order and came as a welcome development for Van Drew, whose district lies in the southern portion of the Garden State.
"The president has always been a vocal critic of these disastrous scams, and we have been grateful for his unwavering support," Van Drew told the Courier-Post.
"This has been a long, hard-fought battle against powerful, foreign multinational corporations that have shown zero regard for our fishing industry, our environment, our whales, national security or the American energy consumer," he added.
Former President Joe Biden "rammed through" lease approvals without considering the potential consequences of the projects, Van Drew said earlier this month.
"These companies, aided by politicians willing to subsidize their failures with taxpayer dollars, were determined to force wind energy on us," Van Drew said. "Thankfully, that ends today."
According to Paxton Antonucci, a spokesperson for Van Drew, Trump’s moratorium on wind turbine projects will remain in effect at least until a comprehensive review of current federal leasing and permitting practices is conducted. The goal, she told the Courier-Post, is to develop a robust legal strategy to cancel already existing leases.
Much of former President Joe Biden’s offshore wind goals have already received their final federal permits, however, and likely cannot be reversed by an executive order, including the Atlantic Shores South project, which is a 1,520-megawatt project that is slated for installation off the coast of Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Tim Fox, an industry analyst at the nonpartisan Clearview Energy Partners, told WHYY that the language of the executive order will be important in determining what it will mean for permitted projects.
"We’re gonna be looking very carefully at the language of the executive order," Fox said. "OK, no more offshore wind … moving forward. But are they gonna try to undermine projects that are currently under construction?"