Posted on September 10, 2025
Republican lawmakers are asking the federal government to revoke all remaining offshore wind leases in the Gulf of Maine.
This week, Republican members of the Legislature’s Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee, as well as several other state representatives and senators, wrote to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. The Maine lawmakers praised the Trump administration’s actions to stop new offshore wind leasing, given their concerns about offshore wind projects posing a threat to the fishing industry and coastal communities.
“Floating offshore wind remains too experimental, too costly, and too disruptive for the people of Maine to bear,” the letter, which was authored by Rep. Reagan Paul (R-Winterport), concludes.
The lawmakers are asking the administration to go further by revoking the four leases in the Gulf of Maine that were auctioned in 2024 and terminating the lease for the Maine Research Array. It also asks to cancel the upcoming bottom trawl survey of the research array area, and for “a comprehensive review of offshore wind regulations to prioritize affordable, reliable, proven energy sources.”
The letter comes weeks after the Trump administration abruptly cancelled Revolution Wind, a wind project off the shore of Rhode Island that is already 80% complete. That case is now playing out in a Boston federal court. The administration is also weighing whether to rescind approval of a planned project off the coast of Massachusetts.
This isn’t the first time Maine Republican lawmakers have made such a request.
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order for a temporary halt in new or renewed offshore wind leases in all areas of the outer continental shelf. It also included a review of the federal government’s leasing and permitting process for existing wind projects.
Shortly after, Paul drafted a letter on behalf of her caucus colleagues to Trump and Burgum thanking them for that initial executive order and asking them to end the existing leases, the same plea in the latest letter. In February 2024, the state announced its hope to build an offshore wind port in Paul’s district to support its larger goal to develop 3,000 megawatts of wind power in the Gulf of Maine by 2040.
The letter sent Tuesday states that Mainers are suffering under high electricity rates, claiming a 36.3% rate increase over the past year. Although ratepayers have seen an increase, state officials have pushed back on that specific number, saying that it doesn’t reflect the reality of residential energy bills.
Though Republican lawmakers have repeatedly argued that the price hikes are the result of Gov. Janet Mills’ and Democratic lawmakers’ climate policies, electricity rates are made up of multiple cost components that are affected by global markets, state policy and private utility companies.
Additionally, a new study from Daymark Energy Advisors shows that electricity prices in New England could have been 11% lower last winter if contracted offshore wind projects had been operational. That would have translated to about $400 million in savings for ratepayers throughout New England, the study found.
As Maine has set clean energy and climate goals, developing offshore wind as a power source has been at the crux of meeting those ambitions. The Governor’s Energy Office released a technical report last December showing that while it is possible to meet the state’s goal of 100% clean energy by 2040, wind and solar are key components of meeting increased electrification demands from plug-in cars and heating options.
