Just weeks after halting construction on a major offshore wind development off the coast of New York, the Trump administration reversed course last week and allowed the Empire Wind project to proceed. That’s good news for the offshore wind industry, which had already been struggling with elevated financing costs. But with the budget bill under debate in Congress, the industry still faces a difficult political environment.

One person who’s happy that Empire Wind is back under construction is Gordon Videll.

“Literally this morning we just got another contract, so things are looking good,” he said.

Videll’s company, Sea Services, helps ensure that offshore wind construction doesn’t damage undersea cables or other infrastructure.

“We provide safety vessels to make sure the assets are protected,” he said.

And while Videll is glad to work on the $5 billion Empire Wind project, expected to power half a million homes, he’s less confident about what comes next.

“After these projects, there’s probably gonna be a lull,” he said.

Because all the policy whiplash, he said, could chill new investment. President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at halting offshore wind, even as he declared the country to be in an energy emergency.

David Victor, an energy researcher at UC San Diego, said offshore wind projects already take years to plan and finance, and the federal government’s stance isn’t helping.

“You’re not quite sure what they’re doing or why they’re doing, or whether they’re gonna come after you next,” Victor said.

The Republican budget bill could also eliminate federal tax credits for offshore wind, said Oliver Metcalfe, head of wind energy research at BloombergNEF.

“If we see the end of tax credits, then making the economic case for any future projects would be very, very difficult,” Metcalfe said.

This could put a dent in domestic manufacturing too. Kris Ohleth heads the think tank Special Initiative on Offshore Wind. And she said companies had announced plans to build equipment here in the U.S., including underwater transmission cables.

Now though, “The policies of the Trump administration are actually pushing these supply chain and manufacturing companies to other countries,” Ohleth said.

But, she said, states remain committed to offshore wind. Especially in the northeast, where demand for energy is high, but there’s not much room for siting projects on land. 

“Yes, it's a three to four year delay from the federal level, but there is a lot of work to be done on the state side,” said Alicia Gené Artessa with the Alliance for Clean Energy New York. “And so we can work on building out our transmission infrastructure.”

So that someday down the line, she said, the state will be ready to buy power from a new crop of offshore wind projects.