Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs Outgoing Interior Secretary Deb Haaland credited the Biden administration with jump-starting the offshore wind industry in a Newsweek interview Friday — while issuing a pointed rebuke to President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to halt future offshore wind projects.”Quite frankly, I’d like to see him try,” Haaland said, adding, “that ship has sailed. I think that offshore wind is here to stay.”Trump, a vocal critic of wind energy, vowed to stop offshore wind development as a candidate in 2024 and recently said his incoming administration plans to halt both on and offshore “windmills” from getting built.”We’re going to try and have a policy where no windmills are being built,” Trump told reporters at a Jan. 7 press conference from Mar-a-Lago.
US Interior Secretary Deb Haaland speaks on the fourth and last day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 22, 2024. Haaland told Newsweek in an exit…
US Interior Secretary Deb Haaland speaks on the fourth and last day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 22, 2024. Haaland told Newsweek in an exit interview Friday that she believes President-elect Trump will have a difficult time reversing the progress on offshore wind projects.
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Trump argued the wind industry can’t succeed without “massive” government subsidies and also singled out efforts to add wind power projects off the coast of New Jersey, saying “nobody wants them.” The Associated Press reported this week that Trump has tasked New Jersey Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew with drafting an executive order to halt offshore wind production nationwide.Haaland argued the wind industry, and offshore projects in particular, are adding thousands of jobs, and helping meet President Joe Biden’s goal of transitioning the economy from fossil fuels to clean energy.The Interior Department secretary also noted that Trump’s plans could face opposition from companies that have committed millions to bringing new wind projects online in coming years.”Folks have invested millions and millions, hundreds of millions of dollars into these projects,” Haaland said.Biden set a goal of developing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030. The administration approved 11 offshore wind projects with a capacity of 19 gigawatts, enough to power more than six million homes, according to the Interior Department.
A wind turbine generates electricity at the Block Island Wind Farm on July 7, 2022 near Block Island, Rhode Island. The offshore industry is “here to stay,” Interior Sec. Deb Haaland told Newsweek.
A wind turbine generates electricity at the Block Island Wind Farm on July 7, 2022 near Block Island, Rhode Island. The offshore industry is “here to stay,” Interior Sec. Deb Haaland told Newsweek.
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“When we got here, the offshore wind sector of our energy [industry] was pretty much, you know, nothing. And now we have 11 offshore wind projects that are in the works. We’re very proud of that,” Haaland said.Haaland, who made history as the first Native American Cabinet secretary, defended the Biden administration’s broader record on energy and conservation in the Newsweek interview, held in her final days in office before Trump is sworn in Monday.Under Biden, the government conserved more than 670 million acres of land and water — more than any other U.S. president in history, according to the White House. The figure includes more than 625 million acres of ocean that was protected from offshore oil and gas drilling.At the same time, Biden approved almost 50 percent more permits to drill on federal land in his first three years in office than did Trump in his first three years as president, according to data from the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management.The permitting increase under Biden included a controversial decision in 2023 to greenlight the so-called Willow project, a planned oil drilling project on Alaska’s North Slope. Environmental and climate activists criticized the decision, arguing it went against Biden’s promises on climate change.
Climate activist hold a demonstration to urge President Joe Biden to reject the Willow Project at the U.S. Department of Interior on November 17, 2022 in Washington, D.C. Biden approved the new oil drilling project…
Climate activist hold a demonstration to urge President Joe Biden to reject the Willow Project at the U.S. Department of Interior on November 17, 2022 in Washington, D.C. Biden approved the new oil drilling project the following year.
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The administration also drew heavy criticism from the left last month for approving and oil and gas lease sale in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska.The sale, which was mandated by a 2017 law, went forward. But it did not attract any bidders by the Jan. 6 deadline, leading to accusations from Alaska Republicans in Congress that the Biden administration designed the lease sale to fail.”The ‘lack of interest’ in this lease sale was an intended consequence of this administration’s efforts to make any development in the Coastal Plain economically unfeasible,” Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said in a statement after the deadline passed.In her first public comments on the lease sale not getting any bidders, Haaland denied that the administration did anything to undermine the process.”That is not true. We follow the law. We’re very transparent,” Haaland said. “These lease sales follow a process. We did that process” with the ANWR sale. She added that she wasn’t surprised the Interior Department didn’t receive interest for drilling in the area.”It’s pretty clear that oil companies don’t want to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,” she said.
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna, delivers remarks while President Joe Biden stands behind her at the White House on October 8, 2021 in Washington, DC. Biden…
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna, delivers remarks while President Joe Biden stands behind her at the White House on October 8, 2021 in Washington, DC. Biden formally apologized to Native Americans for the country’s role in Native American boarding school policy.
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In the interview, Haaland also touted steps taken by the Biden administration to invest in Native American communities across the country.The administration entered 400 co-stewardship agreements for federal lands and wildlife with tribes, Alaska Native corporations and other communities. Under Biden, Congress also approved $45 billion in funding to aid Native American communities through the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act.Last October, Biden made a high-profile visit to Indian Country to formally apologize to Native Americans for a past federal boarding school initiative. The policy separated Native children from their families and forced them to attend government-run boarding schools from the early 1800s through the 1970s.Biden called the initiative a “blot on American history” in his speech at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona.”We ushered in a new era for Indian Country. Native Indian tribes had a real seat at the decision making table during this administration,” Haaland said.
