Trump administration pays $1.2 billion to halt RWE offshore wind projects

The US Department of the Interior has reached an agreement with German energy company RWE to cancel offshore wind lease projects in exchange for more than $1.2 billion. The money, drawn from taxpayer funds, will be redirected toward fossil fuel investments. The deal cancels wind turbine projects planned near New York, California and Louisiana.

Under the agreement, RWE will spend $900 million to acquire a 16 percent stake in a Louisiana liquefied natural gas (LNG) project led by Australian company Woodside Energy. RWE has also signed a separate $300 million agreement to develop a pipeline of 15 natural gas peaker plants across the country.

RWE originally purchased the New York lease under the Biden administration for around $1.1 billion, and the California and Louisiana leases for about $163 million. In a statement, the company said the settlement resolves its legal claims and allows it to direct resources toward projects that can move forward with more certainty. Interior Secretary Doug Burgham praised the company's investment, saying it strengthens the nation's energy security.

Fifth deal of its kind

This marks the fifth agreement in which the administration has paid energy companies to abandon renewable energy projects, bringing total taxpayer spending on cancelling green energy initiatives to roughly $4 billion. The administration has separately spent about $1.1 billion boosting coal-based energy projects.

Environmental groups have noted LNG facilities' troubled environmental record — a report released late last year found that every fully operational LNG facility in the US had violated federal pollution limits, including discharging illegal amounts of hazardous substances into waterways.