Trump’s Billion-Dollar Bribe to Kill Cheap Wind Power Will Hike Americans’ Energy Bills Even More

Today, the Trump administration announced a nearly $1 billion deal with TotalEnergies to cancel the company’s offshore wind leases off the coasts of New York and North Carolina and redirect the funds dollar-for-dollar into oil and "natural" gas production, including in liquefied “natural” gas (LNG). In response, Evergreen Action Executive Director Lena Moffitt released the following statement:

“Let’s call this what it is: a taxpayer-funded bribe to kill homegrown clean energy and hand the money straight to oil and gas executives. Trump is once again making Americans pay more for energy so his Big Oil donors can rake in even more profits.

“After losing again and again in court on his illegal stop-work orders, Trump has found another way to strangle offshore wind: pay them to walk away. His nakedly political attempt to kill the industry is working, and the consequences are real: less cheap, clean energy coming online as demand surges. And higher bills for everyone. It’s corruption, plain and simple.

“All of this is happening while Trump’s illegal war is already sending global energy prices through the roof. Pumping even more money into LNG exports exposes Americans further to those volatile global prices, driving up domestic heating and electricity bills even more. Trump is deliberately deepening our dependence on the same volatile fossil fuel markets his reckless war is destabilizing—while destroying the homegrown clean energy that could protect Americans from that volatility. Working families will pay the price in their heating bills, their electricity bills, and at the pump. This is Trump's energy price hike, and it's only getting worse."

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