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The Trump administration will pay $1 billion to a French company to walk away from two U.S. offshore wind leases<\/a> as the administration ramps up its campaign against offshore wind and other renewable energy.<\/p>\n TotalEnergies has agreed to what’s essentially a refund of its leases for projects off the coasts of North Carolina and New York, and will invest the money in fossil fuel projects instead, the Department of Interior announced Monday.<\/p>\n The Trump administration has tried to halt offshore wind construction, but federal judges overturned those orders<\/a>. Environmental groups denounced the TotalEnergies deal as an alternate way to block wind projects. President Donald Trump has gone all in on fossil fuels<\/a>, which he says is the way to lower costs for families, increase reliability and help the U.S. maintain global leadership in artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n TotalEnergies had already paused its two projects after Trump was elected. <\/p>\n TotalEnergies pledged to not develop any new offshore wind projects in the United States. TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyann\u00e9 said in a statement that the company renounced offshore wind development in the United States in exchange for the reimbursement of the lease fees, \u201cconsidering that the development of offshore wind projects is not in the country\u2019s interest.\u201d<\/p>\n Pouyann\u00e9 said the refunded lease fees will finance the construction of a liquefied natural gas plant in Texas and the development of its oil and gas activities, calling it a \u201cmore efficient use of capital\u201d in the U.S.<\/p>\n After it makes those investments, TotalEnergies will be reimbursed, up to the amount paid in lease purchases for offshore wind, according to the DOI. <\/p>\n \u201cWe welcome TotalEnergies\u2019 commitment to developing projects that produce dependable, affordable power to lower Americans\u2019 monthly bills while providing secure U.S. baseload power today \u2014 and in the future,\u201d Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement.<\/p>\n The Biden administration sought to ramp up offshore wind<\/a> as a climate change solution. Trump began reversing U.S. energy policies his first day in office with executive orders aimed at boosting oil, gas and coal. Globally the offshore wind market is growing<\/a>, with China leading the world in new installations.<\/p>\n The Trump administration halted construction on five major East Coast offshore wind projects days before Christmas, citing national security concerns. Developers and states sued<\/a>, and federal judges allowed all five to resume construction, essentially concluding that the government did not show the risk was so imminent that construction must halt.<\/p>\n On Monday, one of the wind farms targeted by the administration, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind<\/a>, started delivering power to the grid for Virginia. The developer, Dominion Energy, announced the milestone. <\/p>\n Environmental groups criticized the TotalEnergies settlement. The Natural Resources Defense Council said it’s reckless to halt projects designed to bring energy costs down. <\/p>\n Ted Kelly, clean energy director at the Environmental Defense Fund, said the proposed deals \u201care an outrageous misuse of taxpayer dollars to prevent Americans from having clean, affordable power exactly when they need it most.\u201d<\/p>\n TotalEnergies purchased a lease for its Carolina Long Bay project in 2022 for about $133,000. It aimed to generate more than 1 gigawatt there, enough to power about 300,000 homes. It purchased the lease off New York and New Jersey, also in 2022, for $795,000. This was planned as a larger project, with the potential to generate 3 gigawatts of clean energy to power nearly one million homes.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed to this report from Washington.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n The Associated Press\u2019 climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n