By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Trump administration said on Friday it was cancelling $679 million in federal funding for 12 offshore wind projects, including $427 million for a California project.
The move is the latest in a full-throated effort by the administration to undermine an industry that was central to former President Joe Biden's climate and energy agendas.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that the department was cancelling or terminating awards made under
the Biden administration.
Last year, the department awarded $427 million to construct a new marine terminal to support construction and maintenance of offshore wind turbines in Humboldt County, California.
The department is also cutting a $47 million grant for an offshore wind logistics and manufacturing hub near the Port of Baltimore in Maryland and $48 million for an offshore wind terminal project in New York's Staten Island awarded in 2022.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this week said U.S. agencies, including the departments of defense, energy and commerce, are working together to review offshore wind farms approved by the Biden administration along the Atlantic coast.
In the last week, the administration has issued a stop-work order on a nearly completed project off the coast of Rhode Island, and said it would move to cancel the approval of a planned facility off the coast of Maryland.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Mark Porter, Kirsten Donovan)