Overview
- The Interior Department terminated TotalEnergies’ New York Bight and Carolina Long Bay leases and offered a dollar‑for‑dollar refund up to $928 million after the company invests the same amount in U.S. oil and gas.
- TotalEnergies said it will renounce offshore wind in the United States and redirect the refunded lease money to projects such as the Rio Grande LNG expansion and to Gulf oil and shale gas development.
- The agreement follows a string of court rulings that blocked earlier federal stop‑work orders on East Coast wind farms, shifting the administration from legal fights to paid exits.
- Critics, including state leaders and climate advocates, argue the payout hands taxpayer money to a foreign firm to grow fossil fuel supply, while Interior officials cast it as a move for reliable and affordable power.
- One day after the deal was announced, Dominion’s 2.6‑gigawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project delivered first power to the grid, showing other major offshore wind builds continue to advance.