The Trump administration will pay $1 billion to a French company to withdraw from it Two offshore wind leases in the United States As the administration intensifies its campaign against offshore wind power and other renewable energy sources.
TotalEnergies has agreed to what is essentially a refund of its leases for projects off the coast of North Carolina and New York, and will invest the money in fossil fuel projects instead, the Interior Department announced Monday.
The Trump administration has tried to halt offshore wind construction, however Federal judges struck down those orders. Environmental groups denounced the TotalEnergies deal as an alternative way to block wind energy projects. President Donald Trump is gone It’s all about fossil fuelsWhich he says is the way to lower costs for families, increase reliability and help the United States maintain global leadership in artificial intelligence.
TotalEnergies had already paused its two projects after Trump’s election.
TotalEnergies has pledged not to develop any new offshore wind projects in the United States. Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of Total Energy, said in a statement that the company had abandoned the development of offshore wind energy projects in the United States in exchange for paying rental fees, “considering that the development of offshore wind energy projects is not in the country’s interest.”
Pouianni said the recovered lease fees would finance the construction of an LNG plant in Texas and the development of its oil and gas activities, describing it as a “more efficient use of capital” in the United States.
After making these investments, TotalEnergies will be compensated, up to the amount paid in offshore wind lease purchases, according to the DOI.
“We welcome TotalEnergies’ commitment to developing projects that produce reliable, affordable energy to lower Americans’ monthly bills while providing safe baseload power in the United States today — and into the future,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement.
Biden administration He sought to intensify offshore winds As a solution to climate change. Trump began reversing US energy policies on his first day in office with executive orders aimed at boosting oil, gas and coal. Globally The offshore wind market is growingChina leads the world in new construction.
The Trump administration halted construction on five major offshore wind projects on the East Coast days before Christmas, citing national security concerns. Developers and states suedFederal judges allowed the five to resume construction, essentially concluding that the government had not shown that the danger was so imminent that construction should be halted.
On Monday, one of the wind farms targeted by the administration, Virginia offshore windsbegan delivering power to the Virginia grid. Developer Dominion Energy announced the milestone.
Environmental groups criticized the TotalEnergies settlement. The Natural Resources Defense Council said it would be reckless to halt projects designed to reduce energy costs.
Ted Kelly, director of clean energy at the Environmental Defense Fund, said the proposed deals “are a scandalous misuse of taxpayer dollars to prevent Americans from getting clean, affordable energy exactly when they need it most.”
TotalEnergies purchased the lease for the Carolina Long Bay project in 2022 for about $133,000. It was intended to generate more than 1 gigawatt there, enough to power about 300,000 homes. It bought the New York and New Jersey lease, also in 2022, for $795,000. This project is planned as a larger project, with the potential to generate 3 gigawatts of clean energy to power nearly one million homes.
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Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed to this report from Washington.
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