Chuck Schumer Takes Victory Lap After Trump Admin Backtracks On NY Wind Farm Project Work Stop Order

Forbes Breaking News

During remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke about the Trump administration lifting a work stop order on the Empire Wind project on Long Island.

Transcript

00:00And finally, on Equinor. Yesterday, after weeks of fierce backlash, the Trump

00:06administration backed off its unjustified work stop order for Equinor's

00:12empire wind off the coast of Long Island. I'm really glad the administration backed

00:16off. For weeks, I worked with Governor Hochul, Equinor, and pushed Secretary

00:21Lutnik to release their report explaining their work stop order. They

00:26told Equinor they must stop. They said you didn't meet environmental assessments.

00:30And they wouldn't tell him why. They couldn't even answer. They were so

00:34frustrated, they were ready to leave, even though he invested billions and

00:38billions already in the ground to build these turbines, which could provide up

00:43to 800,000 families with cheaper electricity. Well, the reversal is good.

00:50It will save more than a thousand good-paying New York jobs on Long Island

00:55and on Staten Island. And it will preserve billions in private

00:59investment. What kind of country encourages companies to invest in America and then

01:04all of a sudden makes them lose four or five billion dollars that they've

01:08already sunk into the ground without even giving them a reason for it? A few days

01:12later in this project could have been scrapped entirely. A disaster for New York's

01:16economy and for the entire wind and energy industry. The work stop announced was

01:21rotten the moment it was issued. The administration never gave a real

01:25explanation for its many claims that Equinor permits were rushed. The orders,

01:30this order, seem more like a broadside against the wind industry than anything

01:34else. So this episode should serve as a warning to other industries. Donald Trump

01:40may try to push you, but if you push back he will back off. I say that to all the wind and

01:45solar folks who are producing and are about to produce good, clean, low-cost energy. And

01:52Donald Trump and the Republicans in the House and maybe in the Senate are

01:55threatening them by cutting off the tax breaks we were able to get done in the IRA.

02:00Now that this order is lifted, billions of dollars in private investment will once

02:06again flow into New York. Thousands of New Yorkers and offshore wind supply chain

02:10workers across the country can get back to work. Construction can continue on a

02:15project that will power half a million homes and we can proceed on one of the

02:19biggest most significant offshore wind projects in the country.

Recommended

Category

Transcript

Recommended