Trump’s War on Wind Energy Intensifies
The Department of Interior announced a third taxpayer-funded payoff to a company so that it will not produce much-needed offshore wind energy. Electricity from those leases could power 3 million homes.
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration escalated its attack on sorely needed new electricity generation, as it uses tax dollars to pay off yet another company so that it will not produce offshore wind energy.
The four leases abandoned today could provide enough power for more than 3 million homes. This follows two similar payouts, bringing the total U.S. taxpayer cost to about $2.5 billion.
The administration’s misguided efforts to halt wind and solar projects keeps losing in court, and the first of these payoffs, to TotalEnergies, has already been challenged by New York and other states.
The following is a comment from Kit Kennedy, managing director for power at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):
“The Trump administration has lost the plot. At a time when our government should be working to address surging electricity demand and skyrocketing customer bills, this administration is again wasting our tax dollars to pay companies not to produce power.
“With Americans reeling from the Iran War oil shock, this is the exact opposite of what is needed. Offshore wind projects are immune from these global pressures, delivering energy that is stable and secure for decades to come.
“We need more electricity not less. Canceling clean energy projects is self-defeating. Paying off companies so they will abandon them is just ludicrous.
“It's long past time for the Trump administration to end its war on new energy so that customers’ bills won’t keep rising and our nation can meet its growing electricity demands.”
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).