Trump Administration Refunds TotalEnergies Offshore Wind Leases, Redirects Nearly $1 Billion to U.S. Oil, Gas and LNG

The Trump administration has struck an agreement with French energy giant TotalEnergies to unwind its U.S. offshore wind ambitions by refunding nearly $1 billion the company and partners paid for federal wind leases off North Carolina and New York, in exchange for a pledge to invest an equal amount in U.S. oil and gas production and a liquefied natural gas plant in Texas. As part of the deal, TotalEnergies agreed not to develop any new offshore wind projects in the United States, saying U.S. offshore wind is costly compared with Europe and could harm power affordability. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum hailed the move as a win for President Trump’s focus on “affordable and reliable energy,” but independent analysts warn it creates a new precedent for a president to actively steer private capital away from disfavored energy resources, injecting political risk into all long‑term infrastructure projects. Experts at ClearView Energy Partners and CSIS say this kind of ad‑hoc intervention could chill investment across the broader U.S. grid, delaying or raising the cost of everything from power plants to transmission lines just as electricity demand is rising at the fastest pace in decades. Offshore wind advocates argue that with demand surging, the U.S. needs every scalable resource it can get, and they see the deal as another salvo in Trump’s campaign against wind energy that may undermine long‑term reliability and climate goals even if it boosts fossil‑fuel output in the near term.