\n\n“Donald Trump\u2019s return to the White House could be \u201ccatastrophic\u201d for clean energy, particularly the still struggling offshore wind industry, a top Biden administration official says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eric Beightel, who is in charge of coordinating infrastructure approvals across federal agencies<\/a>, told the POLITICO Energy podcast<\/a> he is \u201csomewhat terrified\u201d that a second Trump presidency would be \u201ccatastrophic to our hopes and dreams of our clean energy transition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat we saw during the last Trump administration is that offshore wind essentially stood still,\u201d Beightel said during an interview for the podcast posted Thursday. \u201cAnd what we\u2019ve had to do since coming in was to pick that up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf we had to do that again, coupled with the previous supply chain issues that we\u2019ve already had to reconcile, that could be a death knell to this nascent industry,\u201d said Beightel, executive director of the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Trump\u2019s administration took action in line with the ex-president\u2019s views: In 2019, it delayed the Vineyard Wind project \u2014 a 62-turbine facility planned for the waters off Martha\u2019s Vineyard \u2014 by ordering more environmental reviews that critics said were intended to block its construction. (That project eventually passed muster with Biden\u2019s regulators and recently started sending power to the electric grid.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The prospect of a second Trump administration is emerging at a time when wind projects are caught in the middle of a struggle between Democrats and Republicans over how to rewrite federal permitting rules for energy infrastructure. Both parties agree on the need to approve energy projects more quickly \u2014 but the parties\u2019 priorities remain far apart, as Republicans focus on smoothing the path for pipelines and natural gas export terminals while most Democrats emphasize electricity transmission projects to carry wind, solar and other renewable power.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n