The Trump administration is spending nearly $800 million to cancel offshore leases for four wind farms along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, repaying the project developer in exchange for investments in fossil fuels. This is the third time this year that the Interior Department has moved to reimburse wind developers for what they previously paid for the offshore leases. This creative strategy to stifle the wind energy industry follows the administration’s failed effort to block the construction of wind farms over national security concerns. The department confirmed on Wednesday that it struck a settlement agreement with affiliates of Invenergy to terminate four offshore wind leases in the New York Bight, the Central Coast of California, and the Gulf of Maine.
The agreement involves paying the Invenergy affiliates $765 million, which will be redirected to investments in fossil fuels, including the development of natural gas-fired power plants in Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri. It will also go toward geothermal projects in the western U.S, the Interior Department said.
Unlike the previous buyout agreements announced by the agency this year, Wednesday’s settlement is only a partial reimbursement of what the companies spent on the offshore wind leases.
