Trump administration officials said TotalEnergies will receive about $1 billion in a deal that effectively refunds offshore wind leases, redirecting the company’s money to liquefied natural gas exports and other fossil-fuel projects instead. The Interior Department announced the agreement Monday, framing it as an “innovative agreement” that would stop the federal government from paying what it called “ideological subsidies” for offshore wind.
Interior said the money will be invested in LNG exports in Texas and other fossil fuel projects, after TotalEnergies agreed to what the department described as essentially a refund of its leases for projects off the coasts of North Carolina and New York. The announcement came as the administration’s broader campaign to slow offshore wind has faced court defeats, pushing officials from regulatory and executive actions toward other mechanisms.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, criticized the payment as a misuse of public money. In remarks to The Associated Press on Tuesday, Schumer said the deal “sets a dangerous precedent and is a shortsighted misuse of taxpayer dollars.”
The administration’s approach follows earlier attempts to stop offshore wind through executive and administrative actions that courts partially blocked. U.S. District Judge Patti Saris vacated an executive order blocking offshore wind projects on Dec. 8, finding it unlawful, according to the report. In a separate set of moves, the administration ordered construction to stop on five major East Coast offshore wind projects citing national security concerns, but federal judges later allowed those projects to resume after developers and states sued.
TotalEnergies had not been among the projects ordered to stop during that sequence, the report said, and the company had already paused its two U.S. offshore wind projects soon after Trump was elected. Now the company says it will not pursue new offshore wind development in the United States, and its CEO, Patrick Pouyanné, said the refunded lease fees will support LNG and oil and gas activities in the U.S., describing the change as a “more efficient use of capital” in the country.
Environmental and consumer-oriented groups and some lawmakers said the payment is costly and may not solve the underlying need for power. Kit Kennedy of the Natural Resources Defense Council called the deal a “boondoggle,” saying it transfers nearly $1 billion from American taxpayers to a foreign corporation and the oil and gas industry. Robin Shaffer, president of Protect Our Coast New Jersey, said she applauded what she called “out of the box” thinking, arguing the administration needed a new way to take back leases that never should have been issued because of environmental harms tied to offshore wind.
The debate also plays out against a wider energy context, with Democrats arguing that the move comes as energy prices rise. U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, speaking in a statement to AP, said that giving an energy company $1 billion in taxpayer money to stop jobs and invest elsewhere—during a period of spiking energy costs—was “beyond idiotic.” Another Democratic lawmaker, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, questioned whether the payout is legal under appropriations law and said she would raise the issue with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum at upcoming budget hearings.
The Trump campaign against offshore wind has been a central element of its energy agenda since early in the president’s term, and the report cited his campaign promise to end the industry after returning to the White House. Trump has said wind turbines are harmful to birds and other wildlife and argued that increasing production of oil, natural gas and coal would yield the lowest-cost electricity. The administration’s new payment approach is the latest turn in that fight, after courts repeatedly limited executive efforts to halt wind development.
In a year marked by broader international energy disruption, Democrats also linked the offshore wind policy shift to fears about energy resilience. The AP report said the Iran war has created a major energy shock to the global economy by choking off most crude oil and liquefied natural gas exports through the Strait of Hormuz, and it described the administration’s offshore wind strategy as arriving amid U.S. efforts to boost power supplies and keep bills from rising further.
With offshore wind leases remaining active for other development, Earthjustice President Abigail Dillen said she would not guess whether officials will pay to stop other projects, but she said the administration has shown willingness to take extreme measures. In an earlier interview with AP, Dillen said, “Will they do this again? Maybe,” reflecting uncertainty about how far the payment model could expand.