The RecordExhibit 141
Paying energy companies about $4 billion to give up offshore wind leases
Pending means: In court or under criminal investigation right now.
Since March 2026 the Interior Department has agreed to pay developers about $4 billion to surrender a dozen offshore wind leases, drawing the money from the Treasury's Judgment Fund, a permanent appropriation Congress created to pay court judgments and settlements against the government. The deals often require the companies to put the money into oil and gas projects instead. Nine states have filed five lawsuits.
What happened
The first deal, announced in March 2026, pays TotalEnergies $795 million to drop its 3-gigawatt Attentive Energy project off New York and $133 million for a lease off North Carolina; the company said it would put the money into U.S. gas and power projects. Interior then agreed to pay Ocean Winds $765 million for the Bluepoint Wind lease off New York and New Jersey, Golden State Wind $120 million for a lease off California's Central Coast, Invenergy $653 million for three leases and $111 million for a fourth off California, and RWE $1.22 billion for leases off California, Louisiana and New York.
RWE said it would spend $900 million on a stake in a Louisiana gas export terminal bought from a fund run by Michael Dorrell, a Trump donor, the Washington Post reported; the administration told the Post it had no part in choosing that project. The states say the payments are not settlements of any claim against the government, which is what the Judgment Fund is for, and that TotalEnergies' own chief executive said the cancellation was the company's idea.
Interior had earlier ordered construction halted on wind farms already being built; that fight has its own entry (Exhibit 112). Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said he would widen an inquiry to cover the Dorrell connection.
Where it stands
Pending. Seven states led by New York sued the Interior Department, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Justice Department in federal court in Washington on June 2, 2026 over the TotalEnergies deal. California sued over the Golden State Wind deal in late August.
On Sept. 22 eight East Coast states filed two more suits, in the Eastern District of New York over the Bluepoint deal and in the District of Maine over the Invenergy deals, and California sued again the same day over the $111 million Invenergy deal. The states say the deals violate the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Judgment Fund Act, and ask the courts to void them and restore the leases. No court has ruled.
The administration's side
An Interior Department spokesperson said the deals were settlements that went through the appropriate channels, cited security concerns without describing them, and said the administration will not sit back and let reckless projects create higher utility costs. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has said there is no future for offshore wind under this administration because it is too expensive and not reliable enough, and Trump has said his goal is that no windmills be built in the United States.
Sources
Permanent link: https://unredactedrecord.com/e/windbuyouts/