WASHINGTON — Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project was one of five offshore wind project leases that were “paused” by the U.S. Department of the Interior Monday.
According to the announcement, the pause is for all large-scale offshore wind projects under construction in the United States and effective immediately. The Department of the Interior cited national security risks identified by the Department of Defense in recently completed classified reports.
It added that unclassified reports have found the movement of turbine blades and the highly reflective towers create radar interference, known as “clutter,” which obscures legitimate moving targets and generates false targets in the vicinity of wind projects. While the Department of Energy said that a radar’s threshold for false alarm detection can be increased to reduce some clutter, an increased detection threshold could cause the radar to “miss actual targets.”
The department said the pause will give it, the DOD and “other relevant government agencies time to work with leaseholders and state partners to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by these projects.”
“The prime duty of the United States government is to protect the American people,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. “Today’s action addresses emerging national security risks, including the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies, and the vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our east coast population centers. The Trump administration will always prioritize the security of the American people.”
Dominion countered that the CVOW project is vital for national security in a statement made in response to the 90-day suspension of work order.
“The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project is essential for American national security and meeting Virginia’s dramatically growing energy needs, the fastest growth in America. This growth is driven by the need to provide reliable power to many of America’s most important war fighting installations, the world’s largest warship manufacturer, and the largest concentration of data centers on the planet as well as the leading edge of the AI revolution,” Dominion said. “Stopping CVOW for any length of time will threaten grid reliability for some of the nation’s most important war fighting, AI, and civilian assets. It will also lead to energy inflation and threaten thousands of jobs.”
“The project has been more than ten years in the works, involved close coordination with the military, and is located 27 to 44 miles offshore, so far offshore it does not raise visual impact concerns. The project’s two pilot turbines have been operating for five years without causing any impacts to national security,” Dominion added.
