The Trump administration has cancelled two permitted offshore wind energy projects this week, agreeing to pay the companies involved hundreds of millions of dollars in refunds — on the condition that those funds are reinvested in oil, gas, or liquefied natural gas infrastructure. The Department of the Interior framed the deals as a move to "promote US energy security and affordability," shifting investment "away from intermittent, higher-cost energy sources toward proven conventional solutions."

Under the first agreement, Global Infrastructure Partners — an infrastructure investment fund and subsidiary of asset management giant BlackRock — will invest up to $765 million into a US-based liquefied natural gas facility in exchange for cancelling Bluepoint Wind, a project planned off the coasts of New York and New Jersey that would have generated 2.4 gigawatts of electricity. The second deal concerns Golden State Wind, a project off the California coast projected to produce up to 2 gigawatts — enough to power roughly 1.1 million homes — developed by Ocean Winds and British offshore developer Reventus Power. That company can recover up to $120 million in lease fees if an equal amount is directed toward fossil fuel or energy infrastructure projects. Neither company will pursue new offshore wind projects in the US.

The agreements follow a separate deal last month in which the administration paid nearly $1 billion to French energy company TotalEnergies to abandon two planned Atlantic wind projects — a pattern that suggests the administration is opting to negotiate directly with investors rather than contest wind energy permits through the courts. A federal judge earlier this year blocked the White House's attempt to halt five offshore wind farms already under construction along the US east coast, ruling against the administration.

Critics have been swift to condemn the approach. Sam Salustro of pro-offshore wind group Oceanic Network accused the administration of "using taxpayer dollars to buy foreign companies out of legally executed offshore wind leases." Democratic representatives Jared Huffman and Jamie Raskin wrote to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum demanding the legal basis for what they called "closed-door deals" that would have "negative economic, environmental, and national security impacts." David Arkush of the NGO Public Citizen argued the policy amounted to filling "the pockets of fossil fuel billionaires at the expense of American families."

The moves reflect President Trump's long-standing personal opposition to wind energy, which he has repeatedly — and without scientific basis — described as unreliable, environmentally harmful, and "worthless." In 2012, before entering politics, Trump unsuccessfully attempted to block eleven turbines from being built near his golf course in Scotland, warning they would damage tourism; those turbines now supply power to up to 80,000 homes. With energy demand rising — driven partly by the surge in AI data centres — and pressure mounting on already strained power grids, the administration's systematic rollback of offshore wind is drawing sharp questions about the long-term costs to consumers and energy security.