Overview
- The Interior Department and TotalEnergies, which announced the deal Monday at CERAWeek, agreed to terminate 2022 leases in the New York Bight and Carolina Long Bay, reimburse about $928 million after the company invests that sum in the Rio Grande LNG project and U.S. oil and shale, and lock in a pledge to forgo new U.S. offshore wind.
- Energy lawyers said the payment will likely draw on the Justice Department’s Judgment Fund, which pays federal settlements, raising questions from lawmakers and watchdogs about using taxpayer money for this purpose.
- The cancellations remove more than 4 gigawatts of planned capacity that developers said could power roughly 1.3 million homes, prompting warnings from state officials and grid experts about tighter supply and higher costs in East Coast markets with fast‑rising data center demand.
- Interior framed the move as backing reliable baseload gas, while environmental groups and several Democratic leaders called it a misuse of public funds that sidelines clean power and undermines long‑term affordability.
- After courts blocked earlier stop‑work orders on other wind farms, the agreement signals a strategic shift to negotiated buyouts, and other leaseholders such as RWE have indicated they may seek similar reimbursements if they cannot build.