News 12 Staff • Apr 19, 2025, 3:25 PM Last year, the federal government gave its approval for the offshore wind project Empire Wind 1 and 2, which went into construction earlier this month. Now the project is on pause. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management got word to put the brakes on the Empire project from the Department of Interior, pending review to "address these serious deficiencies." In a letter to the BOEM from the Sec. Doug Burgum, he states the project was rushed through by the Biden... Read more

By Patrick McGeehan - April 16, 2025 - Just as construction was starting on a massive wind farm off the coast of Long Island, the Trump administration ordered an immediate halt on Wednesday that could spell a serious setback for hopes of powering New York City with offshore wind. Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, called for the cessation of “all construction activities” on the Empire Wind project, which was designed to provide enough electricity to power about 500,000 homes in New York. On th... Read more

Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) applauded the decision today by the Trump Administration Interior Secretary, Doug Burgum, who ordered the cessation of construction on the Empire Wind project off the coast of New Jersey and New York. “This is a great victory for all of us who have been fighting to protect the Jersey Shore from offshore wind industrialization. We are grateful to President Trump and Secretary Burgum for their analysis and confirmation of the serious issues we have raised throughout... Read more

– Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), founder of the bipartisan Congressional Autism Caucus and prime author of five major autism laws and provisions since 2000, including the recently enacted Autism CARES Act of 2024, today responded to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showing that autism rates in the U.S. have climbed to an all-time high of 1 in 31 children. Smith welcomed the Trump Administration’s enhanced efforts to address autism in the United States. “The CDC’s ... Read more

By Emily Pontecorvo & Jael Holzman• April 16, 2025 The Trump administration will try to stop work on Empire Wind, an offshore wind project by Equinor south of Long Island that was going through active construction, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum posted to X on Wednesday. Burgum announced that he directed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to “halt all construction activities on the Empire Wind Project until further review of information that suggests the Biden administration rushed through i... Read more

By Dan Alexander The contention by Republican Congressmen Chris Smith and Jeff Van Drew that wind turbines off the coast of New Jersey would interfere with military radar was proven correct in a newly issued report by the Government Accountability Office. The report issued Monday by the non-partisan organization states that “wind turbines can reduce the performance of radar systems used for defense and maritime navigation and safety in several ways. These include reducing detection sensitivity,... Read more

—An Offshore Wind Energy report released today by the Government Accountability Office (GAO)—the independent congressional watchdog agency—gives credibility and vindication to concerns first raised in Congress by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) that offshore wind turbines pose significant threats to national security and aviation and maritime safety by interfering with radar systems. Smith said the report provides additional scientific justification to President Trump’s pause on offshore wind which he h... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith today welcomed the nomination of Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun to serve as U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism – a position created by legislative provisions Smith authored in 2004 (P.L. 108-332) and then elevated to ambassadorial-level position by the law Smith authored in 2020 (P.L. 116-326). “Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun sees the threat of antisemitism for what it is – a mortal threat to Jews in the United States, Israel, and throughout the world, particularly in its manife... Read more

– Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, strongly condemned recent acts of transnational repression targeting Nigerians and Nigerian-Americans in the United States following a March 12, 2025 congressional hearing he chaired on religious persecution in Nigeria. “These alarming acts of intimidation—occurring both before and after my Congressional hearing—are not isolated,” said Chairman Smith, author of H.Res. 220—to designate Nigeria a Country o... Read more

In a bicameral letter led by House Pro-Life Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Values Action Team Chairman Robert Aderholt (R-AL), and Senate Pro-Life Caucus Member Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), 29 Members of Congress encouraged President Donald Trump to stop funding for human embryonic stem cell research (hESC). “We have serious moral objections to hESC. The research relies on the death of young human beings,” the lawmakers wrote. “Human life cannot be reduced to the level of a guinea pig; t... Read more