Terminating the National Emergency Declared with Respect to Energy

Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am honored to follow the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, particularly in his remarks on the Executive order that Donald Trump issued on Inauguration Day to declare a nonexistent energy emergency. And I join him in support of S.J. Res. 71 to terminate that Executive order.

Let's be very clear. The only real energy emergency that we have in this country is Donald Trump. Since that day of his inauguration, he has used that Executive order to actually create an emergency. This administration's actions are raising prices, killing jobs, and undermining America's global competitiveness.

Now, we have a lot of evidence--and I will be mentioning some of it-- but the most recent is from the International Energy Agency, which has slashed its forecasts for renewable energy capacity growth in the United States this decade, citing the early phaseout of the Federal tax incentives and regulatory shifts under this administration.

Mr. President, I ask that the Wall Street Journal article titled ``IEA Cuts U.S. Renewable Energy Growth Outlook on Trump Policies'' be printed in the Record.

7, 2025] IEA Cuts U.S. Renewable Energy Growth Outlook on Trump Policies (By Giulia Petroni)

The International Energy Agency slashed its forecast for renewable energy capacity growth in the U.S. this decade, citing the early phase-out of federal tax incentives and regulatory shifts under the Trump administration.

The West's energy watchdog now expects the U.S. to add nearly 250 gigawatts of new capacity by 2030--down by almost 50% from last year's projections--as a result of fresh import restrictions, the suspension of new offshore wind leasing and a crackdown on permitting for onshore wind and solar projects on federal land.

President Trump has vowed to boost the oil-and-gas industry, in part by cutting support for renewable-energy and emissions-reduction initiatives. A key factor in the U.S. downgrade was the ``One Big Beautiful Bill Act,'' the IEA said, which has accelerated the phase out of tax credits and imposed new construction-start requirements for wind and solar PV projects.

``With the pushing forward of deadlines, renewable capacity additions are now projected to peak in 2027, then decline in 2028 and remain stable through 2030,'' the agency said. ``After this period, renewable power growth will rely largely on state-driven renewable portfolio or clean energy standards and corporate PPAs [power purchase agreements], rather than federal incentives.''

China's shift from a fixed tariff system to an auction- based model is also impacting project economics and dampening growth expectations. Previously, wind and solar projects benefited from guaranteed long-term revenues tied to fixed tariffs, while now projects are awarded contracts based on competitive bids, with payments tied to market conditions.

Despite these shifts, Beijing continues to dominate the global renewable landscape, accounting for nearly 60% of capacity growth. The country is on track to meet its 2035 solar and wind power targets five years ahead of schedule, the IEA said.

The downgrade is partly offset by more optimistic outlooks for other regions, particularly India and Europe. According to the agency, New Delhi will become the second-largest growth market after China, with capacity set to increase by 2.5 times in five years on higher auction volumes, faster hydropower permitting and a surge in rooftop solar installations.

Globally, the IEA revised its renewable capacity growth forecast down by 5%, but said it still expects capacity to double between now and 2030, increasing by 4,600 gigawatts. That is roughly the equivalent of the combined power generation capacity of China, the European Union and Japan.

Solar power is set to account for nearly 80% of the global increase due to its low costs and faster permitting processes.

``In addition to growth in established markets, solar is set to surge in economies such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and several Southeast Asian countries,'' Executive Director Fatih Birol said. ``As renewables' role in electricity systems rises in many countries, policymakers need to pay close attention to supply chain security and grid integration challenges.''

The report came as clean-energy think tank Ember said renewable energy generated more electricity than coal in the first half of the year for the first time on record.

Offshore wind, however, is a weak spot in the IEA's forecast, with its growth outlook about a quarter lower than last year due to permitting delays, supply chain bottlenecks and rising costs.

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, it says:

The West's energy watchdog now expects the [United States] to add nearly 250 gigawatts of new capacity by 2030--down almost 50% from last year's projections--as a result of fresh import restrictions, the suspension of new offshore wind leasing and a crackdown on permitting for onshore wind and solar projects on Federal land.

So let us now turn to one of those onshore--or, in this case, offshore--energy projects: Revolution Wind, just one example of the reckless energy policies that the Trump administration has implemented.

Let's be very clear. When President Trump came into office, America was producing more energy than at any point in our country's history. Last year, the United States added 49 gigawatts of new capacity to the grid, and 95 percent of that new capacity was solar, batteries, nuclear, and wind power.

Yet this administration has launched an all-out assault on these lower cost, less polluting sources of energy.

President Trump promised to lower energy prices for Americans ``in half.'' Now, across the country, electricity prices have jumped more than twice as fast as the overall cost of living. And part of that progress before Inauguration Day for Donald Trump and the emergency energy Executive order was Revolution Wind--now, 80 percent complete.

It is an offshore wind project, off of the coast of both Connecticut and Rhode Island, which is why my colleague from Rhode Island, Senator Reed, mentioned it so prominently in his remarks.

The fact is, Revolution Wind is fully permitted. The project was on track to deliver 704 megawatts of power beginning in 2026--that is next year--powering 350,000 homes, a project well underway before the Trumped-up energy emergency.

Forty-five of the planned 65 wind turbines were already installed when the Trump administration, just months ago in late August, issued a stop work order, grinding this project to nearly a complete halt--men and women on the job in New London, offshore, onshore, stopped from going to work, out of jobs; investors, construction companies, supply chain suppliers, all of them grinding to a nearly complete halt.

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has found that canceling Revolution Wind would cost taxpayers half a billion dollars a year. Let's be clear--half a billion dollars a year to Connecticut and Rhode Island ratepayers every year.

The project has a 20-year contract at 9 cents per kilowatt an hour-- less than half of today's regional price. Connecticut families are already facing surging energy costs. Our electricity bills are among the highest in the Nation. Blocking Revolution Wind undermines efforts to make energy more affordable. It undercuts our work to lower prices for consumers, locking in higher bills for decades and impacting, as well, jobs.

Revolution Wind is providing thousands of jobs in Connecticut and Rhode Island. More than a thousand local union workers have already logged more than 2 million hours on the project. The stop work order put hundreds of these workers on the sideline, and I was proud to stand with a number of them at the Connecticut State Pier to support the offshore wind industry.

Let me thank them and thank the unions that were there. The unions were compelling and powerful, and they are representing their workers. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested into that State pier to support the offshore wind industry.

So the Revolution Wind cancellation threatens our economy, jobs, and, most immediately, affordability for everyday Americans, most particularly in Connecticut and Rhode Island.

But it is not just Connecticut that has benefitted from Revolution Wind. The supply chain for this project stretches across the country, in red States and blue States. The construction of the first American- made offshore wind vessel provided hundreds of jobs. Where? In Louisiana, Florida, and Mississippi. Steel for the project was sourced in Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, and West Virginia. Offshore wind components were sourced and manufactured in Kansas and South Carolina.

Just as our military construction and manufacturing often is sourced throughout the United States, in this case, all of America is helping to build Revolution Wind.

And what is most galling about the administration's actions on Revolution Wind is they defy logic. Eighty percent complete, all of it permitted, reviewed by the Department of Defense for national security, as well as every other Federal Agency that had anything to do with it, any say at all, approved.

And yet in the eleventh hour, the administration swooped down with a stop work order, citing ``national security concerns.'' And that is it--national security concerns.

Well, that phrase is not a pass for everything the Federal Government wants to do, and so I demanded to know what they were, to be provided with information in a classified briefing, if necessary. I demanded it in a letter. I have yet to receive a satisfactory response. In fact, those concerns collapse under even the slightest scrutiny.

A Department of Defense letter, last year, confirmed, and I quote DOD here, ``construction of the Revolution Wind project . . . would not have adverse impacts to DOD missions.'' No adverse impacts.

So the idea that somehow it might interfere with the movement of submarines from the Groton sub base or maybe testing of submarines by electric boat or some other national security or national defense need, no adverse impact to DOD mission.

So these national security concerns, quite clearly and outrageously, were just a pretext, a flimsy excuse to continue this administration's all-out assault on offshore wind. The President said he doesn't like it. He has got something in for it. There is an animus. Who knows what the reason is.

But, thankfully, there is the law. Yes, a Federal judge saw the administration's stop work order for what it was:

[T]he height of arbitrary and capricious.

Now, Federal judges do not often say that actions by the President of the United States are ``the height of arbitrary and capricious,'' nor do they lightly issue a preliminary injunction against that kind of stop work order, but this judge did. And it was based on the fact and the law, so work was allowed to resume on Revolution Wind.

But let's be very clear, a lot of the harm was done. Work was stopped for almost a month, with workers sidelined and progress halted to the tune of millions and millions of dollars, not the way for the United States to do business, not the way for the United States of America to advance economic growth or provide jobs or, equally important, make energy more affordable.

If this administration can derail a fully approved energy project, whether it is natural gas pipelines or offshore wind farms, why would any developer--why would anyone invest in the United States?

The credibility of the United States as a place to do business craters when projects can be derailed by the personal whim of a President, lawlessly and recklessly, as was done here because this President doesn't like wind power.

On the first day of the government shutdown, the Department of Energy canceled nearly $8 billion in clean energy funding for the whole country. It included $53 million for 12 projects in Connecticut supporting lower energy prices, grid reliability, and American energy independence.

It was done in a way that was as illogical, chaotic, and likely illegal as canceling Revolution Wind was. Again, a self-inflicted wound in every way by this President, and that is why he is the energy emergency. He created it in just months, not even a year. He declared it on his first day in office when there was no energy emergency.

He is denying funding for innovative, promising projects. He is stopping nearly complete offshore wind projects. He is creating chaos. It makes America weaker.

And so I urge my colleagues to vote to end the Trump energy emergency and recommit to finding real solutions to lowering energy costs for consumers and supporting American energy.

And I will just close with, again, referring to the Wall Street Journal's report of today on the International Energy Agency's conclusion about how our capacity for renewable energy will be cut by 50 percent as a result of Trump administration action.

Despite these shifts, Beijing continues to dominate the global renewable landscape, accounting for nearly 60% of capacity growth. The country is on track to meet its 2035 solar and wind power targets five years ahead of schedule.

And we wonder why we are in danger of losing competitive advantage to China, not because we lack the resources or the innovators or the workers. It is a failure of leadership, and it begins in the White House.

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