An offshore wind company said Thursday that it reached a $1.2 billion settlement with the Trump administration to walk away from projects under development off New York, California and Louisiana. This latest agreement brings the total amount spent on such settlements to nearly $4 billion.
RWE U.S. Offshore said its leases represented years of planning, investment and partnership with federal agencies, but it determined there was no path forward to permit the projects for the foreseeable future. In exchange for $1.22 billion, RWE is relinquishing the wind power leases that could have provided about seven gigawatts of power, enough for more than 5 million homes. It does not have any remaining U.S. offshore wind leases.
President Donald Trump, who often talks about his hatred of wind power, has said his goal is to not let any 鈥渨indmills鈥� be built. from energy companies as it seeks to in favor of fossil fuels. Offshore wind produces electricity cleanly. Oil, coal and natural gas emit carbon pollution when burned.
RWE announced it is investing $900 million in a liquefied natural gas project in Louisiana and spending $300 million on natural gas turbines. The company is developing 15 natural gas projects across the United States. RWE is headquartered in Germany.
The administration adopted this strategy after to stop offshore wind development through executive action. Roughly $3.9 billion has been spent. are suing. .
Separately, a coalition of over their failure to complete national security reviews for new onshore wind farms on private lands. A federal judge in Oregon ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on Thursday, ordering the Defense Department to resume its review process and provide status reports on the progress.
Commenting on the RWE agreement, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Thursday that Americans 鈥渄eserve an energy system built on common sense, not one dependent on costly subsidies or technologies that can鈥檛 meet our country鈥檚 current demand.鈥� He said he welcomes RWE鈥檚 agreement and voluntary investment in projects that strengthen the nation鈥檚 energy security, provide dependable baseload power and help keep electricity affordable.
But Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said the lease buybacks are effectively bribing companies to step away from clean energy that can displace more expensive fossil fuel plants, which in turn will raise costs for consumers.
鈥淭hey are creating this enormous money pump, pulling billions of dollars out of consumers鈥� pockets,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the real story of what is going on here. And that is both a cost story because of the billions in extra costs consumers pay, and it鈥檚 a corruption story because it鈥檚 Trump鈥檚 sneaky way of getting regular families to pay off his big fossil fuel donors. There鈥檚 method here, and it鈥檚 a real scam.鈥�
Under the first agreement announced in March, 鈥� essentially a refund of its two offshore wind leases 鈥� if it invests the money in fossil fuels instead. agreed in April to end their leases in exchange for reimbursements totaling nearly $900 million, provided it invests equally in fossil fuels. to end its four offshore wind leases that were very early in development in exchange for reimbursements of lease fees totaling $765 million.
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