The Trump Administration has signed deals with two major energy companies to abandon their respective offshore wind farms, with both firms agreeing to invest in oil and gas projects instead.
The separate agreements were detailed in a press release from the Interior Department, which named Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind as the companies that have voluntarily agreed to end their current leases for a combined $885 million. Both firms have also said they don’t intend to pursue any new offshore wind projects in the US going forward.
Bluepoint Wind is an early-stages wind farm located off the coast of New Jersey and New York, while Golden State Wind, which is similarly in its infancy, is off California’s central coast. The government will provide dollar-for-dollar reimbursements of what each lease cost when they were agreed under the Biden administration, which Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said were “only viable when propped up by massive taxpayer subsidies.”
Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which co-owns Bluepoint Wind with Ocean Winds, will invest up to $765 million into a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in the US. Ocean Winds is also one half of the 50/50 partnership that owns Golden State Wind, which will recover approximately $120 million in lease fees after investing in further oil and gas projects along the Gulf Coast.
The deals are similar in structure to the one the Trump administration agreed last month with French energy giant TotalEnergies, reaffirming the government’s seemingly unwavering commitment to outright rejecting clean energy in favor of doubling down on fossil fuels. Meanwhile, the accuracy of President Trump’s claims about climate change and the cost of renewable energy continues to be challenged.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/trump-administration-is-paying-more-companies-to-abandon-offshore-wind-projects-150216769.html?src=rss
