In our spotlight on Business Report tonight, New Jersey appears to be pressing pause on its offshore wind industry.

The state's Board of Public Utilities canceled the bid for a fourth wind project, citing changing policy and added pressure from the Trump administration.

The move comes days after Shell pulled its stake in the state's only wind project to receive federal approval.

Ted Goldberg spoke to New Jersey lawmakers and advocates who have fought for years to build the industry about whether it has a future in the garden State.

Offshore wind in New Jersey has had a rough few weeks, and advocates aren't surprised to hear that the Board of Public Utilities won't be awarding any projects for a fourth solicitation in the Atlantic Ocean.

It just wouldn't make sense as we continue to develop offshore wind in the most responsible way for New Jersey to make that kind of award right now.

The wind is still there and we're ignoring it.

State Senator Jon versus Shelley says President Trump's executive orders are constitutional.

But short sighted.

The president's declared and domestic energy emergency and at the same time cancel significant potential for generation.

Those two don't make sense.

Trump's executive orders put a pause on new federal permits, which are needed because the windmills would be in federal waters.

Atlantic Shores, the only project with federal approval, lost the backing of Shell last week and with it $1,000,000,000 of investment.

A key factor in the Murphy administration's decision to cancel the bidding process.

Even as Governor Murphy has said repeatedly, that offshore wind would play a large role in the state's goal of having carbon neutral power by 2035.

We can continue on that trajectory.

100% Clean electricity by 2035 is not just offshore wind and solar.

Technically, nuclear power is green energy since it has low carbon emissions.

And nuclear makes up more than 40% of the state's electricity production, while New Jersey has two working nuclear plants.

New Jersey Sierra Club leader Angela Ramos.

Bossert says it's not the ideal solution.

Nuclear is not renewable.

It takes a lot of water consumption, energy consumption to actually generate the decommissioning of Oyster Creek.

What are we going to do with that waste where there's legal battles because no one wants it?

Environmentalists and the business community were hopeful that offshore wind could provide thousands of jobs in South Jersey.

The wind poured in lower Aloy's Creek will now be used for something else.

The wind companies that have come in and really own this space, all of which are chamber members and we've been so supportive of have been working with our institutions of higher education across South Jersey to create technical programs to assure that we have the skilled workforce that was needed.

The state's Economic Development Authority says alternative uses would salvage some jobs in South Jersey.

That port is a premier location.

Anything that manufactures large products that wants to import export, this is going to be a good option for them.

Congressman Jeff Van Drew has been one of the loudest voices against offshore wind, and he helped write the executive order that put a pause on it as part of a statement.

He told us that offshore wind farms would have devastated our fishing industry, harmed our coastal economy, driven up energy costs for hardworking families, and littered our shores with massive, unreliable wind turbines while offshore wind collapses under its own weight.

The future of American energy is a nuclear and solar.

Reactions to that are mixed, with some bemoaning the loss of offshore wind and others curious about what will happen next.

They're missing the point that this wind farm has a lifetime of 25 to 30 years of renewable carbon free electricity with a fixed price.

I'm hopeful, by the way, because the one thing we see from this president's second term is things change very quickly.

Two days ago, we had a tariff on Mexico and Canada.

Today, we don't have a tariff.

Governor Murphy is also hopeful things will change, saying developing the offshore wind industry in New Jersey is a once in a generation opportunity to create tens of thousands of jobs.

However, the offshore wind industry is currently facing significant challenges and that was the time for patience and prudence.

I hope the Trump administration will partner with New Jersey to lower costs for consumers, promote energy security and create good paying construction and manufacturing jobs.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Ted Goldberg.