As a global fuel crisis driven by the war in Iran pushes fossil fuel prices higher, the Trump administration has struck a controversial deal with French energy giant TotalEnergies, agreeing to pay the company $1 billion to abandon planned offshore wind projects along the US east coast.
The move marks another significant setback for the US offshore wind sector, which has faced ongoing uncertainty and disruption under President Donald Trump. The administration has consistently criticized wind energy, with Trump describing turbines as unattractive, expensive, and inefficient, while prioritizing increased domestic fossil fuel production.
Under the agreement announced Monday, TotalEnergies will relinquish two offshore wind leases located off the coasts of New York and North Carolina. In return, the Department of the Interior will reimburse the company $928 million—the amount it originally paid for the leases during Joe Biden’s presidency.
In addition, TotalEnergies has committed to halting any future offshore wind development in the United States. Instead, the company plans to channel nearly $1 billion this year into expanding fossil fuel operations, including four new processing units at the Rio Grande LNG facility in Texas, as well as further oil and shale gas development in the Gulf of Mexico and other regions.
The deal comes at a time of major global energy instability. US-Israeli strikes on Iran have caused what the International Energy Agency describes as the largest disruption to oil supplies on record. Climate advocates argue the situation underscores the risks of relying heavily on fossil fuels.
“This is political theater meant to obscure the fact that offshore wind capacity is being pulled out of the pipeline when energy prices are skyrocketing, even as other offshore wind projects continue delivering reliable and affordable power to the grid,” Sam Salustro, a senior vice-president of pro-offshore wind group Oceantic Network, said in a statement. “Paying to remove affordable, homegrown energy out of the equation leaves American consumers struggling to pay their electricity bills.”
The agreement also follows earlier efforts by the Trump administration to halt construction on five already-approved offshore wind farms along the east coast. Those attempts were challenged in court by states and developers, with judges ultimately allowing the projects to move forward.
Despite federal resistance, some projects continue to progress. The Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts has recently been completed, while Revolution Wind, located near Rhode Island, has begun supplying electricity to the New England grid.
Lena Moffitt, executive director of the climate advocacy group Evergreen Action, called the new deal “a taxpayer-funded bribe to kill homegrown clean energy and hand the money straight to oil and gas executives”.
“Trump is deliberately deepening our dependence on the same volatile fossil fuel markets his reckless war is destabilizing – while destroying the homegrown clean energy that could protect Americans from that volatility,” she said in a statement.
Xavier Boatright, deputy legislative director of the national environmental group Sierra Club, said: “Offshore wind is the clear path towards a cheaper, cleaner future, and it’s time Donald Trump governs by the facts rather than his commitment to corporate polluters.”
TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné defended the shift, stating that offshore wind is not currently the most cost-effective method of electricity generation in the US.
Pouyanné and US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum formally announced the agreement during the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston.
