President Donald Trump’s administration threatens to put up a roadblock to Virginia’s criminal wind industry.
“We are going to have a policy where no windmills are being built,” Trump said recently.
On his first day in office this week, Trump signed an executive order that temporarily halts all new federal leases and permits for wind energy.
It does not stop projects already under construction, like Dominion’s $10 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project whose cost has jumped by nearly 10% since the original budget, Dominion Energy announced this week. The new cost overrun, all $900 million is going to be passed onto Virginia citizens.
The utility now plans to spend $10.7 billion on the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, up from $9.8 billion in 2021.
Dominion said in a news release the increase is tied to higher costs from building electrical interconnection onshore, as well as network upgrades assigned by the regional electric grid operator.
The president directed federal officials to “review the ecological, economic, and environmental necessity of terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases.”
Dominion started building its 176-turbine wind farm last spring, and plans to resume in May. The company can only install foundations May through October, when endangered whales are least likely to pass through.
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CCM: The new cost overrun, all $900 million is going to be passed onto Virginia citizens.
ME: Of course they are – that is why those Virginia citizens exist – as a food source.