Trump U-turns on Equinor Empire wind farm
US president Donald Trump has lifted a stop-work order on the Empire Wind project by Equinor, the energy giant has said, adding it would restart construction, without saying when.
The 1.2GW wind farm had a federal lease signed in 2017 and permits were all in order when a month ago, on April 16, an order to stop work was issued by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).
Equinor immediately said it was considering ‘legal remedies’, including appealing the order, to solve the issue, noting that a $1.5 billion loan facility had been agreed for the project, off the State of New York.
Equinor now says the order has been lifted ‘following dialogue with regulators and federal, state and city officials’.
“I would like to thank the Norwegian Prime Minister Støre and Minister of Finance Stoltenberg for their support at a critical time, and that the Minister of Finance raised the situation with the US administration,” said Anders Opedal, President and CEO of Equinor ASA.
“I would like to thank President Trump for finding a solution that saves thousands of American jobs and provides for continued investments in energy infrastructure in the US. I am grateful to Governor Hochul for her constructive collaboration with the Trump Administration, without which we would not have been able to advance this project and secure energy for 500 000 homes in New York.”
Since the early 2000s, Equinor has invested approximately $60 billion in US energy projects, mainly within oil and gas.
Related Articles
ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS
ENVIRONMENT
ENVIRONMENT