Blog Published August 3, 2026 · 4 minute read
Blocked Clean Energy Projects in New York Raise Costs for New Yorkers
Energy prices are surging nationwide, including in New York, where utility bills have grown by 46.75% since 2021, driven by overreliance on expensive natural gas and rapidly rising energy demand. One of the best ways to combat rising energy costs is to expand the supply of clean energy: it would help meet new demand for electricity from data centers and other energy-intensive industries, and it’s both less expensive and, often, easier to build than natural gas infrastructure.
But the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress have made it more difficult to build the clean energy we need, using every tool at their disposal to slow or block renewable energy projects. In New York state, clean energy project cancellations are estimated to have resulted in the loss of more than 9000 jobs and almost $4 billion in lost investment.
Trump Administration Blocking Energy Projects in New York
Washington has directly contributed to rising energy costs by blocking new clean energy deployment, even going so far as to pay project developers to shut down projects or pause construction shortly before completion. In the face of high energy demand, the federal government has chosen to restrict, rather than expand, new energy buildout.
The Administration has also actively pursued the cancellation of grants and funding intended for clean energy projects in blue states and has admitted as much in legal documents, essentially weaponizing access to energy infrastructure throughout Trump’s second term.
Executive orders, agency rulemakings, and administrative decisions have been used to systematically target renewable energy projects. In New York State, the Department of the Interior paid more than $1.5 billion to cancel offshore wind projects that would have provided cheap, reliable power for millions of families.
Congress has made matters worse. The ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ (OBBBA) was signed into law in July 2025 and is forecast to cut clean energy generation in half over the next ten years. Modeling shows the bill will increase household energy bills by up to $200.
Courts have slowed some of the administration’s anti-renewable actions, but it’s challenging for developers to invest in new clean energy deployment when the policy environment is this volatile. Why invest significant resources in New York when the federal government could simply cancel your lease or revoke vital grants and loans?
Timeline of Project Cancellations in New York
April 16th, 2025: The Bureau of Ocean Management (BOEM), citing previous executive orders, issued a Stop Work Order on Empire Wind, an 810 MW wind farm expected to power 500,000 homes in New York. This order was later dropped and construction resumed.
December 22nd, 2025: BOEM issued additional Stop-Work Orders on Offshore Wind Projects Under Construction, suspending all ongoing construction activities at the five offshore wind projects under construction on the East Coast, including suspending construction on Sunrise Wind and implementing a second pause on Empire Wind. In their justification, DOI cited a DOD report claiming radar interference, despite all the projects having completed extensive national security reviews during their initial permitting process. These projects combined provided a total of 5.8 GW of additional capacity, enough to power 2.7 million homes.
March 23rd, 2026: The Department of the Interior (DOI) announced a settlement with TotalEnergies to refund ~$928M to abandon offshore wind leases off New York’s coast. In exchange, TotalEnergies agreed to relinquish its New York Bight and Carolina Long Bay offshore wind leases and reinvest the refunded money into oil, natural gas, and liquid natural gas production.
June 17, 2026: DOI paid Invenergy $765M to cancel offshore wind leases. This buyout, the third enacted under Trump’s DOI, required Invenergy to relinquish four leases off the coast of New York, California, and Maine. The leases represented up to 7.2 GW of future capacity, enough to power 3 million homes.
Impact of Project Cancellations in New York
The Trump administration has tried and failed to halt clean energy’s momentum. But renewables remain a smart, cost-effective, and reliable investment—wind and solar are, in fact, the fastest-growing sources of electricity in the world.
Still, the cancellation of renewable energy permits and funding for clean energy projects creates tremendous uncertainty for investors and has serious consequences for everyday Americans—raising energy costs, canceling construction and project development jobs, destabilizing local economies, and worsening greenhouse gas emissions.
