Donald Trump opposed development of the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre in Aberdeen Bay, Scotland, because he didn’t want his golf clients to see wind turbines.Michal Wachucik/PA Wire/ZUMA

This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to kill offshore wind energy development “on day one” of his second term is already triggering project slowdowns on the East Coast, but the biggest wind farm proposed in the Gulf of Mexico will likely stay on track.

That’s because the project is on such a long development timeline that Trump’s four-year term will be over before permitting and construction begin, according to RWE, the German energy giant that plans to build a 2,000-megawatt wind farm about 40 miles south of Lake Charles, Louisiana. The project, which could power more than 350,000 homes, isn’t expected to be operational for about a decade.

“The project has a long-lead development timeline that is longer than any one federal administration, and with a planned operational date in the mid-2030s,” RWE spokesman Ryan Ferguson said.

RWE, the world’s second-largest offshore wind developer, and other key players in the renewable energy industry announced shifts in funding priorities and warned of project delays and possible derailments after Trump was elected president this month.

“The change of administration in the US entails risks for the timely implementation of offshore wind projects,” RWE Chief Financial Officer Michael Muller........

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