Trump Administration announces new deal to terminate additional offshore wind projects
CENTRAL COAST REGION, Calif. (KEYT) – On Wednesday, the Trump Administration announced that it had reached a deal to terminate leases for more offshore wind energy projects on both coasts.
Wednesday's deal with Invenergy resulted in the termination of large-scale offshore wind energy projects at the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area, in the New York Bight, and in the Gulf of Maine.
According to a press statement from Invenergy, it will receive a partial refund of capital it previously paid to the government for the leases and make investments into domestic natural gas and geothermal projects.
"At a time of unprecedented energy demand, Invenergy is focused on delivering reliable, affordable energy for our customers and supporting disciplined investment at scale," Invenergy's Senior Vice President for Development Daniel Runyan said in a statement Wednesday. "That is why Invenergy, with our affiliates and on behalf of our various stakeholders, will deploy additional capital into projects that can be delivered on a commercially reasonable timeline and meet customer demand while continuing to evaluate opportunities as market conditions evolve."
The image below shows the successful bidders for two large offshore wind energy projects along the California coast.
Golden State Wind previously agreed to abandon its lease within the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area and could recover around $120 million from the Trump Administration, but only after the company makes an investment of, "an equal amount in the development of U.S. oil and gas assets, energy infrastructure, and/or LNG projects along the Gulf Coast" stated the Interior Department.
Golden State Wind is a co-owned joint venture between Madrid-based Ocean Winds and Reventus Power, an offshore wind platform-focused company for the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
While Golden State Wind does not indicate any prior oil nor natural gas projects on its website and there is no public indication it pursued the termination of the projects, Invenergy has a robust energy portfolio with more than 225 projects, representing 38 gigawatts of power infrastructure.
During a Bureau of Land Management auction just yesterday, Invenergy secured leases for geothermal energy projects in New Mexico and purchased another 5,000 acres for future geothermal projects in five states, including California, shared the energy company.
The only remaining company that holds a federal lease at the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area, Equinor Wind US LLC., shared with Your News Channel Wednesday, "There are no additional development activities planned at this time."
The Department of the Interior shared that the voluntary terminations of all four of Invenergy's offshore wind leases totaled $765 million, but the details of the settlement have not been provided publicly at this point.
"Today marks a significant step in advancing President Trump's energy agenda and lowering energy prices for Americans," said Department of Justice Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Wednesday. "By ending these offshore wind leases and pivoting investment toward dependable natural gas infrastructure in multiple states, Invenergy is helping revitalize American energy and national security. The Department of Justice looks forward to continued cooperation from companies that are reevaluating their energy investments."
The details of the deal are of an acute interest and not just for the signatories.
Prior offshore wind deals, including an almost $1 billion deal with French energy giant TotalEnergies, to terminate its offshore wind projects are subject to Congressional investigation.
In April, the Trump Administration announced it was paying TotalEnergies $928,333,333 to not pursue two offshore wind energy projects in the Atlantic Ocean and instead invest in domestic fossil fuel projects.
According to Ranking Member Huffman of the House Natural Resources Committee and House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Raskin April, the Trump Administration drew the almost $1 billion payment to TotalEnergies from the Judgement Fund, an account created by Congress in 1956 to pay court-ordered judgements and settlements against the government.
"When Secretary [of the Interior] Burgum signed the settlement agreements in March 2026, the agreements' own recitals framed it a settlement agreement. After coming under fire, he abandoned that characterization entirely," noted a letter issued to TotalEnergies' CEO by Congressmembers Huffman and Raskin Wednesday. "He [Secretary of the Interior Burgum] now publicly describes the settlement agreement as a refund. Neither characterization is legally sufficient to gift TotalEnergies with nearly $1 billion taxpayer dollars. Nor can Secretary Burgum cure one defect by retreating to another."
A Department of the Interior statement sent to Your News Channel in late April referred to the payments as "monies refunded" and "not taxpayer dollars" and that the "settlement" was "approved by the Department of Justice".
Those claims are now subject to Freedom of Information Act requests filed by Your News Channel.
The difference between categorizing the payments as a refund for a lease terminated by the federal government or a subsidized investment is a serious legal question.
Ranking Members Raskin and Huffman argued that using the Judgement Fund, which is managed by the Treasury Department and funded by Congress, to settle, reimburse, or to subsidize a future investment would violate the above appropriations clause as it was not approved by Congress.
"The constitutional stakes are greater than a single improper payment," stated a letter from the Ranking Members to TotalEnergies in April. "The Judgment Fund has no annual cap, and individual disbursements receive no congressional review. Congress designed it that way because court judgments are involuntary; if a judge orders the government to pay, then it must pay. However, that logic does not extend to voluntary deals the executive branch chose to enter, on terms it negotiated, with counterparties it selected. Applied to those transactions, the Judgment Fund becomes the ultimate political slush fund."
Wednesday's announcement from the Department of the Interior also characterized the deal with Invenergy as a "settlement agreement" as well as a "partial reimbursement".
"Donald Trump is using your tax dollars to make America more dependent on dirty, volatile fossil fuels," Congressman Jared Huffman shared in a statement Wednesday. "He is paying energy companies to kill homegrown offshore wind that will put electricity on the grid, lower energy bills, and create good jobs, and he is funneling that money straight back to fossil fuel, leaving families at the mercy of every price spike and global shock. It is hard to imagine a more backwards use of taxpayer money."
Additionally, the Ranking Members noted that under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, when the federal government cancels an offshore energy lease, the lessee is "entitled to receive the lesser of two amounts: the fair value of the cancelled rights as of the date of cancellation, or the excess of the lessee's total expenditures on the lease over revenues received."
It was not made clear if the method required by federal law concerning the termination of federal offshore leases was used in Wednesday's deal with Invenergy.
Like those previous deals negotiated with offshore wind companies to abandon their projects, the Trump Administration's deal with Invenergy appears to require the energy company to make investments into future, non-wind-based energy infrastructure.
"We have a chance to build cheap, reliable power right off our own coasts. Instead this administration is paying top dollar to walk away from it, tying our energy future to the vagaries of volatile markets and handing the bill to families already paying too much," Congressman Huffman argued in a press release Wednesday. "These deals are illegal, and they make our country weaker. I have serious questions, and I intend to get answers. Americans deserve cheaper, more reliable energy made right here at home, and the good jobs that come with building it."
In December of last year, the Trump Administration suspended five large-scale offshore wind projects, including one project that was already generating electricity, "due to national security risks" detailed in still-classified reports the Interior Department shared in a press release.
Simultaneously, the Trump Administration argued that an energy emergency it declared last year requirs it to use a Cold War-era defense law to forcibly restart oil production at the Santa Ynez Unit locally due to national security concerns.
The same Administration is also responsible for cutting billions in Congressionally-approved energy investments, potentially outside of its legal authority, rescinding over 3.5 million acres of offshore waters already leased for energy generation, and adding $40 billion in subsidies exclusively for the oil and natural gas industry through the One Big Beautiful Bill.
These unilateral exemptions to federal laws on behalf of private oil and natural gas companies and explicit prohibition of alternative sources of energy all under the umbrella of national security are both not new and ongoing.
"President Trump is committed to unleashing affordable, reliable American energy for our country’s communities and putting the American people first through common-sense action," argued Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. "The offshore wind leases were sold under the assumptions that taxpayers would indefinitely subsidize costly, unreliable projects and that no national security concerns were implicated - both assumptions have since been proven false. Under President Trump, companies are shifting investment back toward dependable, secure energy infrastructure that can power our economy and lower utility costs. We applaud Invenergy for recognizing the importance of baseload power and investing in energy solutions that deliver real benefits to American consumers."
Ocean Winds, one of the offshore wind energy companies that previously agreed to a deal with the Trump Administration in April, agreed to abandon two of its major wind projects in the United States, but continues forward with its Southcoast Wind project off the shores of Massachusetts which obtained its lease and initial approval during President Trump's first term.
Notably, the stop-work orders issued earlier this year for national security reasons to other offshore wind projects did not include the Southcoast Wind project.
In response to Your News Channel inquiries, the Department of the Interior stated Wednesday's settlement agreement with Invenergy would be posted publicly and that, "in general, the settlement agreements are structured so that Invenergy will make expenditures on conventional energy projects and then will receive its offshore wind bid amounts back."
Your News Channel is awaiting additional information from the Department of the Interior regarding the statement which will be added to this article when it is received.
