Trump Keeps Spending US Tax Dollars to Kill Offshore Wind and Boost Oil and Gas
This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The German energy company RWE has reached a $1.22 billion deal with the US government to relinquish its offshore wind leases and instead redirect funds towards fossil fuel investments. The agreement marks the fifth deal the Donald Trump administration has struck with energy […]
The US administration under Donald Trump has been utilizing taxpayer funds to halt offshore wind initiatives and promote fossil fuel investments, as revealed by a recent deal with German energy firm RWE. This agreement, valued at $1.22 billion, involves RWE relinquishing its offshore wind leases off the coasts of New York, California, and Louisiana.
The company asserts that permitting such projects in the US is improbable in the foreseeable future. This marks the fifth deal under the Trump administration where payouts are exchanged for terminating renewable energy projects and funneling resources into fossil fuels, resulting in nearly $4 billion in taxpayer expenditure. The total cost of these deals, including earlier agreements with TotalEnergies and Duke Energy, amounts to $2.7 billion.
The Interior Department's spokesperson declared the deal a success, praising RWE's investment in projects that bolster energy security and affordability. However, the agreement has sparked controversy, with seven states—among them New York—suing the administration for allegedly crafting a "sham deal" and "illegal agreement." Additionally, the Trump administration has allocated up to $1.1 billion for coal projects, a move critics argue is benefiting the administration's associates while raising energy costs for American citizens, particularly amidst geopolitical tensions.
Simultaneously, the government is curtailing public input periods for fossil fuel drilling on federal lands while shifting more environmental cleanup responsibilities to taxpayers. A recent report by the Environmental Integrity Project highlighted that all operational LNG facilities in the US had breached federal pollution standards, citing violations such as excessive bacterial discharge, oil pollution, and inadequate monitoring reports.
Written by urgent.news from Mother Jones's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
