VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — On his first day in office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that temporarily halted new leases on wind energy projects and called for a comprehensive review of existing wind projects.
In his speech, Trump stated, “We have more oil and gas than any country in the world, and we’re going to use it. We’re not going to do the wind thing.”
This comes as Dominion Energy is working on the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, which aims to install more than 175 offshore wind turbines placed 25 to 30 miles off the Virginia Beach coastline. However, the future of this initiative is clouded by political developments.
Watch related coverage: Loud noises from wind turbine project have stopped but will continue in the new year
In light of this executive order, News 3 inquired with Dominion Energy about the implications for the local project. The company provided a statement, saying in part:
“We're confident Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) will be completed on-time, and that Virginia's clean energy transition will continue with bipartisan support for many years to come.
I also want to point you to what Secretary of Interior nominee, Doug Burgum, stated last week in his confirmation hearing, "If they make sense and they are already in law then they will continue." CVOW clearly fits this standard.”
Despite this optimism from Dominion, residents in Croatan who express environmental concerns and frustrations related to noise say the executive order offers them hope. Croatan resident Patrick McLaughlin remarked, “We’re hoping and praying that it’ll stop it. They’ve already put a lot of equipment out there, but they haven’t put the turbines up yet.”
Watch related coverage: Croatan residents complain of loud noises from Dominion Energy wind turbine project
This wave of hope appears to extend to Sandbridge regarding future projects. Joe Bourne, a volunteer spokesperson for the Protect Sandbridge Beach Coalition, which formed in response to previous work by Avangrid, now owned by Dominion, expressed a shared sentiment.
Bourne stated, “The biggest concern we’ve had with a lot of this is the speed with which this has been going…and so slowing this down significantly in saying ‘We need to take a pause and a harder look at it’ I think is encouraging to everybody. We’ll just have to see what follows through from the executive order."
Dominion Energy has conducted multiple public meetings. The company will also host an open house on February 25 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Virginia Beach Field House to provide residents with an opportunity to ask questions or voice concerns.
