Union Workers Voice Concerns Over Trump Administration's Impact on Wind Energy Jobs
Workers involved in expanding renewable energy express pride in their contributions and criticize the US president for pursuing what they describe as a 'personal vendetta' at their expense.
Donald Trump has attributed various issues—including environmental concerns, health risks, and cancer—to wind farms throughout his long-standing opposition to the industry. However, as his administration continues to take actions undermining wind energy, the primary concern among workers remains the security of their jobs.
Since beginning his second term, Trump has issued an executive order aimed at halting all wind-energy leases and permits, attempted to enforce stop-work orders on wind projects under construction, and paid over $2.6 billion in settlements to buy out wind energy leases. These measures have affected hundreds of workers.
Impact on Workers: The Case of the Revolution Wind Project
Thomas Kilday, a furnace electrician affiliated with IBEW Local 99 in Providence, Rhode Island, was engaged in a four-week shift aboard a vessel off the Atlantic coast working on the Revolution Wind Project in August of the previous year when a stop-work order was issued on the project.
"No one really knew what was going on. We didn’t know what it meant for us. We just knew that everything was up in the air," said Kilday. "You plan your whole life around being gone for 28 days, and to come out here and have it thrown up in the air, worrying what does this mean for me, for my pay for the next four weeks, what’s going to happen? There’s a lot of uncertainty."
The construction schedule for the project consists of 28-day shifts on and 28 days off, with workers residing on a vessel at sea and using helicopters to reach the turbines.
In September of the previous year, a federal court issued an injunction blocking the initial stop-work order. In December, the Trump administration issued another 90-day stop-work order citing national security concerns, which was subsequently blocked by a second judge in January.
When the second stop-work order was announced, Kilday was spending Christmas with his family and preparing for another four-week shift.
"That was really difficult," he said. "I just spent a bunch of money on Christmas gifts for my family, and it was not what I wanted to be thinking about. Six months out of the year we’re away from home, and for what little time we do have at home, not to be able to just focus all of that time and energy on our families, it’s tough. It’s not a great feeling to be worried about your job when you’re supposed to be home."
"We’re proud of the work that we do out here, and we want to be able to continue to do it. We think it’s important work," added Kilday. "When I’m at home, and I drive down my street, I look up at those power lines. I helped create the power that’s running through those power lines, and I’m proud of that."
The Revolution Wind project announced in March that it had begun delivering power to New England, crediting the efforts of more than 1,000 local union workers. The project is expected to supply electricity to over 350,000 homes and businesses. Construction of the project is ongoing.
Trump Administration's Broader Actions Against Wind Projects
In June, the Trump administration abandoned efforts to halt all wind projects and leases nationwide after a court dismissed the executive order freezing all permitting and leasing for wind projects.
Instead, the administration has pursued buyouts of wind project leases.
The Department of the Interior has completed four agreements to cancel wind project leases, paying energy companies a total exceeding $2.6 billion. These include payments to Invenergy to abandon four wind projects in California, New York, and Maine, as well as payments to Bluepoint Wind and Garden State Wind to cancel offshore wind leases in New York and California.
"I think it’s a foolish policy that the Trump administration is engaging in trying to buy out these leases," Pat Crowley, president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, told . "These projects are not only helping to reduce our carbon emissions, they’re providing good-paying union jobs for thousands."
Crowley emphasized that workers would have enjoyed long-term job stability from these projects. He noted that the Trump administration had lost in court in its attempts to issue stop-work orders on five wind projects in the Rhode Island area.
"We’re five for five taking on the Trump administration," he said. "What the Trump administration is doing is just throwing money away for the sake of their ideology."
Worker Perspectives: Vineyard Wind 1 Project
Will Gonzalez, a construction laborer with Laborers’ Local 385 in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, worked on the Vineyard Wind 1 project off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, which the Trump administration attempted to halt in January. The project is now complete and fully operational.
Gonzalez criticized the administration’s efforts to stop wind turbine projects, attributing the opposition to Trump’s personal experiences attempting to block a wind turbine project near his golf course in Scotland in December 2015.
"It’s a personal vendetta," said Gonzalez. "Good union jobs – we shouldn’t be trying to take those off the table. That just doesn’t make any kind of sense. Families obviously need good jobs … why take those jobs away?"
He added that he and his colleagues have been unable to utilize their training and certifications due to the halting of wind power projects.
"All of us that worked on that Vineyard Wind 1, obviously, we would have loved to segue right into another project," he said. "We’re fully trained, ready to go, willing and able, so it directly affected us. But you move on. You [have] got to move on. You can’t sit and dwell on that, because that’s not going to pay the bills."
Official Response from the Department of the Interior
The White House referred requests for comment to the Department of the Interior.
A spokesperson for the department denied that the cancellation and stop-work orders on projects had any impact on jobs, including those projects under construction when halted. The spokesperson did not respond to inquiries seeking clarification or comment on Trump’s previous opposition to wind turbine projects involving his golf courses.
"No jobs were eliminated because none of these leases were operational or supporting employment," the spokesperson said.
"Rather than waiting years for the projects to materialize, the Trump administration is prioritizing investments in existing infrastructure and functioning supply chains that can create jobs now and deliver economic benefits faster.
"This approach puts more people to work more quickly, using proven, affordable, and reliable energy rather than relying on projects tied to leases that were not producing jobs in the first place."
