Trump Administration to Pay $1 Billion to Energy Giant to Cancel Wind Farms

[LearnedHand]

(NYT gift link)

I cannot even with this orange asshole.

The Trump administration will pay the French energy giant TotalEnergies nearly $1 billion to abandon its plans to build wind farms off the East Coast, the Interior Department said on Monday at an energy conference in Houston.

Under the unusual deal, TotalEnergies would forfeit its leases in federal waters for two wind farms, which would have been built off New York and North Carolina. The Justice Department would then reimburse TotalEnergies $928 million, the amount it paid for the leases during the Biden administration.

In exchange, TotalEnergies would invest that money in oil and gas projects in the United States, including a facility in Texas that would export liquefied natural gas to global markets. The company would also commit to producing more oil in the Gulf of Mexico and said it was developing some additional gas-burning power plants to meet rising electricity demand from data centers.

The deal is an extraordinary transfer of taxpayer dollars to a foreign company for the purposes of boosting the production of fossil fuels, a main driver of climate change, while throttling offshore wind power. It comes as the war in the Middle East has shocked global oil markets, prompting concerns about energy supplies.

[dweller]

1. Other companies have fought in courts and won

Pisswig is skipping straight to the bribe , and canceling the leases regardless .

😑


✌🏻

[Deuxcents]

2. TSF doesn't want clean energy..he's got too many billionaire friends in gas n oil companies. 🤬

[ColoringFool]

4. No Windmills! 🤪

[Bayard]

3. What can you even say about this?

Stupid man gives a bunch of taxpayer money to stupid company to stop said company from benefiting taxpayers.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. Taxpayers to fork out $1B to block Trump's pet obsession: 'Outrageous misuse'

trump hates wind power and wind mills. Many nations are using this source of power to lessen the need for oil. trump sued to block this project and lost in court. Now, trump is using taxpayers money to cancel a very valuable wind power project.

Taxpayers to fork out B to block Trump's pet obsession: 'Outrageous misuse'

www.rawstory.com/trump-admini...

— 🌊🌊 I Voted For Her 🌊🌊 (@bluedotnd.bsky.social) 2026-03-27T15:34:40.458Z

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-administration-will-pay-1b-to-block-2-offshore-wind-farms/

The U.S. government will pay a French energy firm nearly $1 billion to cancel its plans to build a pair of wind farms off the East Coast, the Trump administration announced Monday in its latest move to stymie offshore wind.

The French firm TotalEnergies will forfeit its leases for projects off the coasts of New York and North Carolina, with the United States paying $928 million to reimburse what the company initially spent on the leases.

Under the deal, TotalEnergies will reinvest that money into oil and gas projects, including a liquefied natural gas export facility in Texas.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to block the development of offshore wind projects, which many East Coast states have been counting on to meet their energy needs in the coming years. The projects canceled under the deal announced Monday would have provided power to more than 1 million homes.

Late last year, the Trump administration invoked classified national security threats to stop work on five wind farms that were under construction, but courts have ruled that the projects can proceed. But for dozens of other projects still in the planning and permitting stages, industry experts expect little progress while Trump remains in office.