Vineyard Wind, one of five major offshore wind projects the Trump administration attempted to halt in December, installed its final blade on Friday. This marked a major blow to President Trump in his diabolical war on offshore wind, but apparently he has a new battle strategy.
Documents reviewed by The New York Times reportedly show that senior administration officials are drafting settlement agreements that would pay nearly $1 billion to TotalEnergies—a French energy company developing two wind farms off the coasts of New York State and North Carolina—if it agrees to abandon the projects. TotalEnergies would also have to commit to investing in natural gas infrastructure in Texas to get the payout, the NYT reports.
“It is quite unusual for the administration to do this cash outlay, seemingly just because Trump doesn’t like offshore wind,” John Leshy, who served as the general counsel for the Interior Department during the Clinton administration, told the NYT.
Gizmodo was not able to independently verify the contents of the documents.
The move comes six weeks after federal judges shot down Trump’s attempt to halt Vineyard Wind and four other East Coast offshore wind projects. The ruling allowed all of them to resume construction after developers and states sued. Since he wasn’t able to win the favor of the courts, it appears the President has decided to appeal directly to energy companies instead.
It remains to be seen whether TotalEnergies will take the bait. The company did not respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment by the time of publication. If it refuses the settlements, the Trump administration would still cancel its leases, the documents reportedly show. This would force TotalEnergies into a costly legal battle to keep the projects—one the company may opt to avoid.
The two offshore wind farms in question are Attentive Energy in the New York Bight and Carolina Long Bay off the coast of North Carolina’s Bald Head Island. Attentive Energy is designed to deliver up to 3 gigawatts of renewable energy, while Carolina Long Bay will generate up to 1 gigawatt. According to the Carolina Bay project website, its energy output will be enough to power 300,000 homes.
Both projects are still in the pre-construction phase. The Trump administration is offering TotalEnergies $928 million to cover the cost of its winning bids in lease sales during the Biden administration, the NYT reports. If the company accepts, it would not only have to walk away from the projects but also agree to invest an undisclosed amount of money in Texas gas plants and gas production.
Meanwhile, two of the five offshore wind projects Trump tried to kill have hit major development milestones. The completion of Vineyard Wind—a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners—on Friday means its 62 turbines will soon deliver enough electricity to power 400,000 homes.
Also on Friday, Revolution Wind—a joint venture between Ørsted and Skyborn Renewables—announced that it has started delivering power to New England’s electric grid. The 65-turbine wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island will eventually power up to 350,000 homes.
The fact that the administration is willing to essentially bribe energy companies into dropping offshore wind projects underscores just how desperate it is to pivot the U.S. energy sector back toward fossil fuels—at the expense of public health and climate goals. This new strategy will test the offshore wind industry’s willingness to stay the course.
Source: Gizmodo