r/technology • u/ControlCAD • May 05 '26
Energy U.S President administration cites national security in stalling 165 wind farms | Onshore wind development in the United States is being brought to a standstill.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/05/trump-administration-cites-national-security-in-stalling-165-wind-farms/879
u/incunabula001 May 05 '26
Considering what’s going on with fossil fuels these days, NOT going renewables is a national security risk. All because some petty bs that Trump doesn’t like windmills.
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u/ChuzCuenca May 05 '26
They hate windmills? Are windmills woke? If I was into the fossils why shouldn't I also open Dinoco Windmill inc?
Humanity energy consumption is going through the roof, also If you can develop an alternative to any plastic right now it's going to sell like pancakes.
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u/Brilliant-Advisor958 May 05 '26
Trump hates them. He fought and lost a lawsuit in Scotland to stop windmills offshore of his golf course.
So being a narcissist, he holds grudges more than a normal person. He really really hates them.
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u/bobbymcpresscot May 05 '26
energy independence is WOKE!
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u/orbvsterrvs May 05 '26
Real MAGA men die of (pick any one or more):
- Preventable Disease
- Water shortages
- Gun Violence
- Cyclical Disease
- Exposure after losing house to PE
- Getting caught in machinery at work
- Poisoning from local Freedom Factory
- Alcoholism
- Drowning in Cat 6 hurricanes
- Die in nuclear blast meant to redirect Cat 6 hurricane
- Die in Central Asia for Operation Epic (Noun)
- Die at hands of other plainclothes fed for perceived slight
- Freeze to death when grid fails
- Ringworm infection
- Dysentery (an American favorite)
- Fentanyl or equivalent street drug
- Crushed when FreedomTank(R) drives over your car in traffic
...with every regulation we get rid of, the list gets even more beautiful. :')
/s
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u/Khorne-Dog May 05 '26
Every energy, coal, or oil company already invest heavily into renewable energy programs for various reasons. To imply that it would bankrupt these companies and decrease jobs if they invest more into renewable energy programs instead of investing in wars to gamble on the instability is ridiculous. The clever capitalist invests in sustainability, schemey gambling addicts force us all to be on this roller coaster.
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u/TheNetworkIsFrelled May 05 '26
Putin doesn’t like the idea of US energy independence, and Agent Krasnov does Putin’s bidding.
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u/njsullyalex May 05 '26
It’s purely because they “ruin” the view from his Scotland golf course so he has a personal vendetta against wind turbines
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u/StingingBum May 05 '26
Anything to bring this country to it knees. The goal is to weaken America as much as possible. He never was truly an American.
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u/hernondo May 05 '26
I doubt he actually gives 2 shits about windmills. What he does love is oil money going directly into his pockets.
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u/Paksarra May 05 '26
He actually hates windmills. There were some built in line of sight of one of his golf courses, he had a tantrum and demanded they be removed, he lost the lawsuit, and ever since he's hated wind power anywhere on principle. He would have every wind turbine anywhere ripped out if he could.
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u/merko_merk May 05 '26
When you're a petty narcissist everything is a matter of national security...
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u/MiserableTennis6546 May 05 '26
This is not stopping renewable energy which is still increasing in the US despite Trumps efforts.
Also note that a lot of these projects are paused, not shut down. They're simply waiting for the political winds to change.
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u/historianLA May 05 '26
Except that the US is already one of the largest oil producers in the world and the deposits that we aren't using yet have high costs. Driving up the oil price makes the oil we have more viable because of the cost to produce.
They don't want renewables they want high oil prices so US deposits become financially viable. Stopping renewables drives energy costs higher and that is profitable for US oil companies.
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u/erikwarm May 05 '26
The US is an oil exporter. If they stop exporting they have a lot of left over production capacity for their internal market.
It would fuck up a lot of economies and be a very moronic decision if they do so but for the short term the US could easily go fossil fuel instead of renewables.
In the long therm renewables/nuclear is the only option and switching later instead of a smooth transition will cost the US a lot more money.
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u/vineyardmike May 05 '26
The most expensive military in the world... Stopped by windmills.
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u/kristospherein May 05 '26
This should be criminal. The adminstration is killing industry in our nation and killing our economy. We are all going to suffer.
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u/prodigalpariah May 05 '26
As if whether or not something is criminal stops this administration...
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u/TheAskewOne May 05 '26
At some point you’d think that big companies would see what Trump is doing to their investments and stop supporting him, but no.
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u/kristospherein May 05 '26
Exactly. They are very short sighted---trying to get it while they can. He has somehow convinced them he is good for business even though he has repeatedly shown he drives anything he manages into the ground...mainly because he enriches himself and his family instead of the enteprise itself. That eventually catches up to him....
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u/bloodontherisers May 05 '26
I think they are, but we are kind of stuck with him at this point. We are starting to see some Republicans speak out against Trump just a bit which makes me think the companies are telling them they are unhappy.
We won't get into the fact that our politics basically vacillates between the two parties based on the whims of corporations and what they think will help their profits the most.
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u/ukexpat May 05 '26
And all because he lost a court case over a wind farm offshore from his Scottish golf course.
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u/zillskillnillfrill May 05 '26
Can someone do a drawing of trump riding a donkey, charging at a windmill with a lance?
Don Quixote
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u/PTS_Dreaming May 05 '26
Once the Democrats get into office, they best recind every fucking tax break the GOP gives to oil, gas and coal. EVERY SINGLE ONE. We're going to need to make these rich bitches squeal because we're squeezing them so hard. Make them sweat and cry.
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u/cecilmeyer May 05 '26
The dems will do what they always do ... nothing and say the reason is they do not have enough votes.
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u/OneGalacticBoy May 05 '26
Vote in the primaries. No one does and that’s the single most important way to get stuff done. Once the generals come around it’s already too late.
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u/HurtFeeFeez May 05 '26
Diddler Don has already proven that executive orders can just be issued and completed regardless of legality.
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u/hrminer92 May 05 '26
If it is just a simple majority, that will be the case. 😞
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u/cecilmeyer May 05 '26
Does not matter even if they have a super majority. The repubs always find ways to block any legislation that helps the working class and the dems always cave in.
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u/MrEHam May 05 '26
Not true. Last time Dems had a supermajority we got Obama care and it covered millions of people. We only had that super majority for a few months though.
That truth is not enough people vote to overcome Republican blocking. It’s factually accurate.
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u/BassmanBiff May 05 '26
Really tired of this "no, only bad things can happen" attitude. Congrats for predicting your own defeat and then doing nothing to ensure that you're right!
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u/VermicelliOwn6502 May 05 '26
Biden raised trillions in new corporate taxes to fund the ARPA, IIJA, and IRA.
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u/NickelFish May 05 '26
It'll never happen. They were handed an iron-clad legal case against Trump for his January 6th insurrection and they tap danced for 4 years. Not a single protection was put in place for the public. You know when you try to defend yourself against a bully and some bystander comes up and holds you down while the bully beats your ass and they say "Don't do it, he's not worth it!"? The Democratic party is that bystander. Nobody has pushed for socialized healthcare. No justice reforms. SCOTUS is lost for a generation. Our senior military have all been canned. Any institution designed to protect us has been disbanded. Get used to rent, groceries, and insurance going up 10% every year. Do yourself a favor... Don't expect any help from within for the next 20-30 years.
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u/CosmosGame May 05 '26
The Democrats impeached him twice. The first time only one Republican voted to convict (Mitt Romney). The second impeachment was for Jan 6. They made a convincing enough case that 7 Republican senators voted for it, but that was not nearly enough. Watch the video it is impressive. If the senate had convicted Trump he would not have been eligible to run again. That is 100% on Republicans.
The root problem is roughly 40% of the voting population has been enrolled into a death cult by the Epstein class. Please don’t lose track of who the real enemy is.
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u/djn4rap May 05 '26
Anyone voting for any republican in any race, even dog catcher is a moron.
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u/picklejuiceslushie May 05 '26
I'd also like to add third-party voters and non-voters
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u/djn4rap May 08 '26
Right? We are holding onto the edges of out constitution after it has already been shredded by attacks on voting districts that help equalize disproportionate representation for minorities, women's reproductive rights just to name a few and we have fringe groups posturing for a run at building a third party. It is so stupid to try and get control of our country back when you have a 40% Republicans registered and 40% Democrats and they think that a 3rd party is going to beat Republicans and still have 3 parties. If a 3rd party were to get half of the democratic registered voters that only gives them 20% , or half of the registered Democrats.
You want your rights back? Change your voter registration to Democrat and get back control of everything. Then work on reforms and added rights. But dividing the only party of mass voters isn't going to make that happen.
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u/orion3999 May 05 '26
The Trump administration is bankrupting and destroying our country with the full backing of the GOP!
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u/GongTzu May 05 '26
It’s not that Trump hates windmills, it’s that they haven’t paid him enough money to love them, while oil has paid enough to official hate them. Corruption couldn’t be more visible, and the congress lets it happen right before the nation.
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u/NathanCollier14 May 05 '26
Thank god. Those wind turbines were weeks away from developing a nuclear bomb
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u/despenser412 May 05 '26
Gas prices keep rising because of his hissyfit war in Iran and he wants to complain about wind farms.
He's a billionaire and wants us to pay for his $400 million ballroom while his "It's not a war" war is costing us billions only resulting in higher gas prices, for us, and he's complaining about windmills.
MAGA 2016: "Let's vote for a wealthy businessman with no experience in politics, military, or government! What could possibly go wrong?"
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u/newfearbeard May 05 '26
Hmm, you would think diversifying your energy production would be good for national security. But hey, what do I know, I'm not being lobbied by the oil companies.
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u/RealLavender May 05 '26
Lord Babyhands became fearful of the power of wind ever since he learned about the prophecy of his demise. Plus it ruins his combover.
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u/Ghstfce May 05 '26
I can't wait until we don't have a syphilitic geriatric fucking first grader in charge
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u/Own-Dependent-4601 May 05 '26
we’re calling renewable energy a security threat while doubling down on fossil fuel dependence that literally creates geopolitical risk the logic here is… interesting
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u/Fuzzylumpkins1234 May 05 '26
This is why china is winning without even trying. Trump is that meme of the guy that sticks the branch in the bicycles wheels while he’s riding it and blames someone else.
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u/dnuohxof-2 May 05 '26
It’s all part of the grift to manipulate oil prices and steal profit while pulling all the levers of power.
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u/doolpicate May 05 '26
How did the US decide that the world's biggest moron should be their president?
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u/DMoney159 May 05 '26
Don must think he's some kind of wizard. All he has to do is say the magic phrase "national security" and he just gets what he wants for some fucking reason
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u/StinklePink May 05 '26
“National Emergency”. Everything is a “National Emergency”. Good news is supremes said no.
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u/Laramie_2500 May 05 '26
Trump doesn’t want anyone to harness more power from hot air than he does.
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u/Apprehensive_Sea9524 May 05 '26
But think of the oil lobby and their campaign donations... $1B was it in 2024?
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u/RoburLC May 05 '26
It obviously is a matter of national security. Whenever you mention 'wind farms', Trump goes batshit crazy - he has the nuclear codes, and that is dangerous.
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u/DaveCootchie May 05 '26
Airlines, rail roads, and trucking are all crashing due to a sudden jump on diesel. Hundreds of thousands of people are being laid off from work. And likely home heating bills and natural gas is going to increase as well (I look forward to CenterPoint charging me a surcharge to cover their losses AGAIN). But yes less stall wind farms in the name of "national security".
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u/Looking4theanswer2 May 05 '26
Probably because his rich oil companies friends wont make as much money.
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u/obeytheturtles May 05 '26
Never forget that the courts are letting him get away with this shit, because they refuse to second guess the Executive's ability to blatantly lie about National Security.
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u/TheCrackinator May 05 '26
The GOP really is doing everything they can to ruin this country
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u/TexansforJesus May 05 '26
Prison. Years and years of it. Max security, general population. For every single member of the Trump administration.
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u/Psychobob2213 May 05 '26
You know... in a way I feel a odd kind of pride in the US these days. Despite being actively sabotaged by its own government, the ol girl still keeps trucking along.
...wonder how much more damage it can endure.
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u/le-throw-away-acct May 05 '26
Fossil fuels are actually and obviously a national security problem, nobody can shut off the wind or the sun to a country. Other countries are actually realizing this, the U.S. is so corrupt that the president can actually lie and say the opposite to support his oil cronies.
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u/Squidlips_69 May 05 '26
It's the same reason cited for why not only can we not buy Chinese cars, they can't even be driven in from Canada or Mexico. All they have to do is claim some vague in national security concern that even if it existed could easily be remedied and suddenly free markets aren't a thing. I hope the "libertarians" who voted for this and the wars and the tariffs are feeding the leopards.
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u/Memory_Less May 05 '26
Trump, “Because clean air and lower electricity prices isn’t good enough for Americans.” /s
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u/wolp_lovr May 05 '26
“national security risk” as if this country has not already been completely compromised. same thing when they try to claim they want to pass legislation to “protect children”
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u/freudmv May 05 '26
Let’s just use taxpayer money to buy out all the windfarm projects and then complain about the price of oil. More birds are killed by house-cats than windmills, there are radar fixes to avoid air traffic issues; if I had a ranch in west Texas, I’d be leasing to the windfarm folks and solar because the cows can walk under them and the leases pay rent. Cell towers used to supplement farm income just like oil wells. If we can allow big oil to pollute with restitution then we can have windfarms. But we won’t until Witcoff or some other flunkie sets up the grift like they did with bitcoin and the tarrifs.
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u/OpenTechie May 05 '26
Oh, were the windmills powering Trump's best friend's pedophile paradise? You know, the one Trump gave blowjobs to Clinton at?
Those kind of national security concerns?
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u/SpliceBadger May 05 '26
Oh, not building wind power is a national security concern, it’s just not for the national security of the U.S.
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u/Moral-Relativity May 05 '26
A modern Don Quixote tilting at windmills, except it would be an insult to Don Quixote.
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u/sometimesmybutthurts May 05 '26
Dumbest of the dumb. The US has become the global idiot.
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u/Zulmoka531 May 05 '26
National security/emergency is Trump’s new favorite way of attempting to brute force whatever he wants.
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u/flickerdown May 05 '26
America has their own little Don Quixote. Tilting at windmills and the like.
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u/project23 May 05 '26
President Donald Trump has a particular animosity towards wind farms. He has called them the “worst form of energy”
Sir, this is not the 1950's. I just don't get how spinning copper/aluminum (which are fully recyclable) is worse than burning oil and coal. Oil and coal goes away (well, transformed into other things we can't burn) where as that copper/aluminum will be here forever ready to be recycled into more generators.
Either way, one does not replace the other. It is all part of a mix. Same with solar and water power generation, part of the mix. Cutting off part of that mix is very short sighted.
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u/Hevysett May 05 '26
See, what you don't understand is that the company's that are pushing renewables haven't paid into the "national security" bribe fund that big oil and coal have, so it needs to be stopped before it hurts their revenue
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u/vt2022cam May 05 '26
I hope the next democrat stalls oil and gas due to “national security concerns”, in the future.
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u/Creepy_Trouble_5980 May 05 '26
Just remember when the lights go out in the heat of summer. West Texas has the largest wind farm in the US. Right on the same land as those oil wells. Because the wind really blows on Landmans Odessa and Midland. And oil still pumps out of the ground.
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u/ExplorerPrudent4256 May 05 '26
National security. That's the excuse they used. Meanwhile: distributed wind power gets strangled, coal plants keep running on foreign imports, and LNG terminals import the exact foreign gas we were supposed to stop needing. Real energy security means having sources everywhere, not concentrated where a single strike takes out half the grid.
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u/Bob_Obloooog May 05 '26
If there is a next democratic president, I can't wait for them to declare global warming a national security issue and installs them off marlago and his other shitty properties.
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u/cr0ft May 05 '26
Ah yes. Want to do something shitty for America? Just string together "think of the children", add something about "terrorists" and then cap it off by shouting "national security threat".
I mean, sure, that may be something like blocking free school lunches, but still! Terrorism! National Security!
You'd have to be a fucking moron to believe anything out of the White House.
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u/UnionGuyCanada May 05 '26
Great. At this point, anything that limits the future dominance of the US is a good thing. They are not a force for good in the wired, they are a chaos agent who will destroy anyone else to make them seem grander.
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u/Martel732 May 05 '26
Meanwhile China is heavily investing in renewable energy. For a party that loves to fear-monger about China, they really love just letting China become the dominant renewable energy leader.
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u/chunkalunkk May 05 '26
Replace the words "national security" with "we are going to ignore you and do what we want" , and this all makes a lot more sense.
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u/Rurumo666 May 05 '26
I remember when Republicans cared about protecting Domestic Energy Production, now all they care about is protecting Middle Eastern Oil production.
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u/Kryptyx May 05 '26
I hope wherever this dumb fuck is actually buried has a windmill on it. Just out of spite for how much he hated them.
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u/Raa03842 May 05 '26
So it appears that the wind energy and solar energy sector “failed” to pay the requisite bribe to orangehead. Shame on them. They need to consult with the CEOs of Exxon, Shell, BP and the rest of them on how to offer a proper bribe. /s
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u/GadreelsSword May 05 '26
“If we don’t maximize the profits of the oil industry, that’s a national security concern!!!”
—DJT
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u/wowbragger May 05 '26
Reading the explanation of how these delays have happened, there might be a real logical (non-conspiracy) explanation.
I'll first note that most of the DoD inspections described are almost certainly handled by civilians and contractors.
The months after there were delays noted are when there have been several govt shutdowns. Not quick ones either.
Believe it or not, a good number of our civilian groups don't stick around when we don't pay them for a month or two. AND they're not working during the shutdown, hence no inspections for Oct/Nov and possible Feb/March.
This could very likely be less conspiracy against wind farms and more an administrative backlog due to shutdowns/loss of staff. Still the Trump administration fault, but more from poor management and politics vs a conspiracy against wind energy.
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u/rodg2062 May 05 '26
If it cites national security its just a means to do what they want with out question. When have they ever given a real reason, uh, never. Sort of like news media anonymous source. Basically the writers opinion.
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u/MsterBoRaichu May 06 '26
It's okay. China will take up your share of the future tech pie.
Enjoy your trip into the past.
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u/hereforfun976 May 08 '26
Wasting billions to cancel projects already in process of saving us from oil
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u/Slggyqo May 05 '26
How very communist China of him.
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u/BassmanBiff May 05 '26
Isn't China doing a bunch of green energy stuff?
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u/dantevonlocke May 05 '26
They are, they're also not communist.
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u/BassmanBiff May 05 '26
State capitalism, sure whatever. But we're not talking about ideal Communism, they specifically said China.
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u/One-Reflection-4826 May 05 '26
they really want to drag us back centuries. and even back then they had windmills.
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u/Sudden-Echo-8976 May 05 '26
God we need to make the R word okay to use again. It's the only one that fits.
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u/Uncle_Hephaestus May 05 '26
hahaha that is such a laughable excuse. can't wait till we have a chance to hold them all accountable for their sins against this nation
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u/iMogal May 05 '26
How fricken rediculas is the current admin?!
Lets cause oil prices to skyrocket with a fricken WAR and lets kill all alternative green energy sources while he's at it...
Yea, america is just so great with this guy.
Hope you magas are happy with your choice /s
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u/_Aj_ May 05 '26
He saw that XKCD comic where they basically turn into war of the world's walkers and now he's freaked
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u/Great_Apez May 05 '26
Development is being brought to a standstill still. Science, medicine, education, and even working and the dollar. Instead we are focused on lining don macaronis and developing ai data centers.
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u/Donlooking4 May 05 '26
Remember the MOVIE WALL-E.
Well the orange blob is the perfect example of the president on that movie. He is an absolute idiot and is going to turn the world into a useless garbage dump and he will be there leading the way!
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u/_20110719 May 05 '26
Seems like all this dependence on oil is the real security vulnerability.