By Jasper Ward
WASHINGTON, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Four Democratic governors wrote to U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Wednesday to ask the Trump administration to lift its halt on five offshore wind projects on the U.S. East Coast.
The Department of the Interior on Monday attributed its suspension of the leases for the projects to national security concerns.
However, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee
rejected those claims, saying that the projects had already undergone extensive federal review, including an assessment that addressed national security considerations.
They said neither the Interior Department nor any other agency, including the Pentagon, informed their states about a new risk prior to the suspensions.
"The sudden emergence of a new 'national security threat' appears to be less a legitimate, rational finding of fact and more a pretextual excuse to justify a predetermined outcome consistent with the President’s frequently stated personal opposition to offshore wind," the governors wrote.
The Interior Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The suspension was the latest blow for offshore wind developers that have faced repeated disruptions to their multi-billion-dollar projects under U.S. President Donald Trump, who has said he finds wind turbines ugly, costly and inefficient.
Agencies including the U.S. Departments of the Interior and Commerce and the Environmental Protection Agency have been implementing a directive to suspend all new approvals needed for both onshore and offshore wind projects pending a review of leasing and permitting practices.
Earlier this month, a federal judge rejected the Trump administration's halt to all federal approvals for new wind energy projects.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Alistair Bell)
