'Slap In The Face': Salem Offshore Wind Project In Peril After Trump Cancels $34M In Federal Funding

SALEM, MA — Eight hundred North Shore construction workers are potentially out of jobs and the future of the much-celebrated Salem Offshore Wind Terminal is in doubt after the Trump Administration canceled $34 million in federal funding approved for the project.

Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo called the federal funding clawback a "reckless move" three years after Congress approved the funding under the Biden Administration and declared that the city and state would explore "all options and legal avenues available" to restore the investments.

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"This project was set to transform 42.3 acres of vacant land into a heavy-lift port for marine industries, which would have generated hundreds of jobs and provided a boost to our economy," Pangallo said. "The unilateral decision to terminate the agreement, without any consultation with the Salem Harbor Port Authority, the City of Salem, or the port developer, is unacceptable."

Pangallo told Patch in May that the city was continuing the efforts necessary to advance" the project despite what Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell called at the time the Trump Administration's "unlawful attempt to freeze the development of wind energy."

Campbell and AGs from 17 other states filed a lawsuit seeking to unfreeze the funding.

"I'm grateful to the attorney general for standing up for our clean energy future and the future of offshore wind in Massachusetts, specifically," Pangallo said at the time. "The port development in Salem important for diversifying and future-proofing our economy both locally and regionally."

State Sen. Joan Lovely (D-Salem) on Tuesday called the termination of federal funds for the project "a major setback for the Commonwealth's climate goals" that "will also take away hundreds of jobs and positive economic impacts for our region."

President Donald Trump said during the most recent campaign that he intended to halt the offshore wind industry in favor of more traditional energy production, and in January issued a memorandum that indefinitely stops the federal approvals necessary for the development of projects.

Gov. Maura Healey said the funding cancellation would cost about 800 construction workers their jobs and potentially wastes tens of millions of dollars that have already been spent on the project.

"This action is a slap in the face to the hardworking men and women who keep our nation moving and deserve better than what they’re getting from their federal government," she said in a statement.

“It will cost local workers good jobs and good paychecks, which are not easy to replace," said Joe Byrne, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters. "It puts at risk the additional development that always follows infrastructure projects. Federal investments in infrastructure have always been reliable backstops and stimulants for the economy.

"We worry that may no longer be the case."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)