Wind turbines off the coast of Rhode Island, USA. Yonhap News. 

The Donald Trump administration in the United States is creating an environment that makes it very difficult to build wind farms, which President Trump despises, in America.

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced on the 29th (local time) that it is withdrawing or suspending federal funding of $679 million (approximately 945 billion won) that was to be provided for 12 offshore wind projects in the United States, the New York Times (NYT) reported.

This funding was approved by the previous Biden administration.

Most of the projects whose funding has been canceled are facilities that will be used to construct the large turbines necessary for offshore wind turbines.

In Humboldt County, California, a project to renovate an offshore terminal for manufacturing wind turbines and shipping them out to sea was set to receive $427 million in federal funding last year, but this has now been canceled.

In a statement, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, "Wasteful wind projects are using resources that could be used to revitalize America's maritime industry," and added that the withdrawn funds would be used for other port improvement projects if possible.

Wind turbines near a Trump golf course in Scotland. Yonhap News. 

President Trump has long opposed wind power and signed an executive order on his first day in office to suspend permits for new offshore wind projects.

The Trump administration has intensified its attacks on the wind industry in recent weeks, the NYT reported.

On the 22nd, the Trump administration ordered a halt to the construction of the $6.2 billion 'Revolution Wind' offshore wind project, which is under construction in Rhode Island.

Officials in Rhode Island and Connecticut, who were expected to benefit from the completion of this project, argued that there was no justification for the halt order and that local power supply could become unstable.

The Trump administration has also indicated plans to revoke permits for an offshore wind project planned in Maryland.

This project, which involves constructing up to 114 wind turbines off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland, has not yet begun construction.

The Department of the Interior is significantly delaying permitting by subjecting wind and solar power projects to routine consultation and permitting, as well as new political evaluations conducted by the Secretary of the Interior's office.

The Department of the Interior is also investigating bird deaths attributed to wind power.

This policy direction is in contrast to the previous Biden administration.

The Biden administration sought to foster offshore wind, an emerging industry, as part of its climate change response strategy and set a goal in 2021 to introduce offshore wind production capacity of 30,000 MW by 2030.

30,000 MW is enough electricity to power approximately 10 million households.

However, since then, a number of offshore wind projects have stalled due to rising costs, high interest rates, supply chain disruptions, and local opposition.

Since President Trump took office, business development has become even more challenging due to policies hostile to wind power and tariff uncertainty, leading some wind companies to announce that they are temporarily suspending investments in the United States.

Currently, only a few offshore wind projects are still under construction in the United States, including in New York, Massachusetts, and Virginia.

Yonhap News