President Donald Trump used his first day in office to slam the brakes on the renewable energy industry, issuing an executive order to temporarily halt federal leasing, permitting and approval of both onshore and offshore wind energy projects.

But a Virginia Beach wind farm already under construction will be spared the immediate effects of the order, said environmental experts and Dominion Energy officials. Still, the experts say other Dominion projects could be delayed.

“It will have an effect on any future leases,” said Eileen Woll, offshore energy program director for the Sierra Club’s Virginia chapter.

Under the Monday executive order, the Trump administration will pause all offshore wind leases in federal waters, in addition to halting permitting and approvals for any wind project, both offshore or onshore. The order notes that, “Nothing in this withdrawal affects rights under existing leases in the withdrawn areas.” That includes the 2.6-gigawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, which began construction off the coast of Virginia Beach last year.

However, the order instructs the Secretary of the Interior to review the ecological, economic, and environmental necessity of terminating or amending such leases, determining any legal bases for such removal and submitting a report to the president.

Woll said the order’s language seemed to indicate a willingness to go after existing leases. However, she noted that talking was one thing, while “having the legal foundation to actually do it is another.”

In response to a question about whether the Trump administration would try to alter the Virginia Beach wind farm lease, Dominion spokesperson Jeremy Slayton pointed to comments made by Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. Burgum said during a Jan. 16 confirmation hearing on existing projects that, “If they make sense and they are already in law then they will continue.”

“CVOW clearly fits this standard,” Slayton said in an email.

Grayson Holmes, a senior attorney in Virginia for the Southern Environmental Law Center, said going after a project like the Virginia Beach wind farm could be an uphill legal battle. Dominion installed 78 of 176 turbine monopile foundations last year before stopping construction for the season. Construction is set to restart in May following the whale migration season.

Still, Holmes said the executive order could delay two Dominion projects years away from construction: a 40,000-acre site near Kitty Hawk purchased from Avangrid in 2024 and a 176,505-acre lease area also near Virginia Beach acquired last summer.

“Those are on pause for now so they can do this kind of evaluation,” Holmes said.

Woll also worried that the executive order would impact Hampton Roads economic development efforts to attract the companies that manufacture the parts for the huge offshore wind turbines. A representative for the undersea cable company LS GreenLink told the Pilot earlier he sees no threat to the company from the Trump administration since a planned Chesapeake facility won’t be up and running until 2028. Another development official hoped Trump would change his mind, given his goal of bringing back American manufacturing jobs.

Trump has waged a verbal war against wind turbines since he failed to block a wind installation near a planned golf course near the Scottish town of Aberdeen in 2015. He has, without evidence, claimed the installations kill birds and whales and bemoaned how much the energy source costs to produce.

One of the three conservative organizations suing Dominion seeking to stop construction of the Virginia Beach wind farm applauded the executive orders. H. Sterling Burnett with the Heartland Institute said in a statement that the orders pulled back from former President Joe Biden’s “inane climate projects” and lifted restrictions on fossil fuel development.

The Heartland Institute, along with several other conservative groups, is arguing in court that the wind farm is a danger to endangered North Atlantic right whale species. A judge denied a temporary injunction that would have halted construction in a May ruling, and the lawsuit is ongoing.

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