Where Trump sees big 'ugly' windmills, Canada sees opportunity
CBC
The U.S. president's war on wind power just keeps coming.
"There are windmills all over the place, and they are losers," Donald Trump announced to global leaders last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
"They're a joke, they don't work," Trump told the United Nations General Assembly last September, doubling down on his declaration on Day 1 of his second term: "We're not going to do the wind thing."
His attacks on wind power have soured investors and builders in the U.S. offshore wind industry. But where Trump sees big "ugly" windmills, Canada sees opportunity.
"There's a lot of eyes on Nova Scotia right now," said the province's premier, Tim Houston, who says offshore Atlantic Canada is one of the best locations in the world for large-scale wind power.
"The interest is through the roof," Houston told CBC News.
It's a bitter reality for the New England coast, which is battling Trump's threats to gut wind power.
"I’m sad to say but Canada has a big opportunity because of the stain the Trump administration has left" on wind power, Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse recently told CBC News.
"Our loss will be Canada’s gain."
Rhode Island is the epicentre of Trump’s latest war on wind. In late December, the Department of the Interior imposed stop-work orders on five offshore wind projects along the Atlantic Coast, including Revolution Wind, 23 kilometres off the coast of Rhode Island and 85 per cent complete.
Orsted, a Danish energy giant, and Skyborn Renewables are developing the project, a 65-turbine wind farm to supply 704 megawatts of power to 350,000 homes in Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Revolution Wind promised 1,200 jobs, with many demanding specialized training to install giant turbine towers.
"This industry was booming … there was a pipeline of work that was promised for decades," said Harry Antone, of Climate Jobs Rhode Island, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, the country's biggest federation of unions.
"This stop-work order was issued days before Christmas," Antone said. "[The workers] feel betrayed. They feel like they've been punched in the gut."
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