Trump admin dumps Biden-era wind projects for billion-dollar investment in US oil

FIRST ON FOX: The Trump Department of the Interior secured a landmark agreement with energy giant TotalEnergies to redirect nearly $1 billion away from "unreliable" and "ideological" wind farm projects approved under the Biden administration and instead invest in U.S. oil and natural gas as part of the president’s "energy dominance agenda."

Secretary Doug Burgum announced the agreement with TotalEnergies on Monday at the CERAWeek conference, an annual gathering of global oil and energy leaders in Houston.

TotalEnergies is renouncing its U.S. offshore wind leases and instead investing a total of $928 million in oil, natural gas and liquefied natural gas production in the U.S., according to the department. Additionally, after the department paused all leases for large-scale offshore wind projects under construction in the U.S. due to "national security risks," TotalEnergies has pledged not to develop any new offshore wind projects in the country.

The department said that "under this innovative agreement driven by President Donald J. Trump’s Energy Dominance Agenda, the American people will no longer pay for ideological subsidies that benefited only the unreliable and costly offshore wind industry."

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As part of the agreement, TotalEnergies will invest $928 million in the development of a liquefied natural gas plant in Brownsville, Texas, as well as shale gas production and upstream conventional oil in the Gulf of America.

In turn, the U.S. will terminate wind farm leases in the Carolina Long Bay Area and in the New York Bight area. Both of these leases were granted to TotalEnergies by the Biden administration in 2022. The U.S. will be reimbursing TotalEnergies for these investments.

According to the department, these reinvestments "directly advance the Trump Administration’s ongoing efforts to lower costs for American families, increase baseload and grid reliability, and help maintain global leadership in artificial intelligence." 

Burgum called the agreement "yet another win for President Trump’s commitment to affordable and reliable energy for all Americans."

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"Offshore wind is one of the most expensive, unreliable, environmentally disruptive, and subsidy-dependent schemes ever forced on American ratepayers and taxpayers," Burgum told Fox News Digital.

He added that the administration welcomes TotalEnergies’ commitment to "developing projects that produce dependable, affordable power to lower Americans' monthly bills while providing secure U.S. baseload power today — and in the future."

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi also commented on the deal, telling Fox News Digital that "today’s agreement prioritizes affordability for hardworking American consumers over the prior administration’s ideological, ineffective energy policies."

Bondi predicted that "Americans will benefit from this significant investment in our energy industry," which she said will "also enhance our national security and grid reliability."

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Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of TotalEnergies, told Fox News Digital that the company is "pleased" to sign onto the agreement with the DOI and to support the administration’s energy policy.

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He explained that the decision to renounce the offshore wind developments in favor of U.S. oil investment was made in consideration that offshore wind projects are "not in the country’s interest."

Pouyanné said these investments will help supply Europe with "much-needed" U.S. liquified natural gas and provide gas for U.S. data center development. He said TotalEnergies believes this is "a more efficient use of capital in the United States."