Another day, another illegal billion-dollar bribe to raise your electricity costs
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- Interior Department has paid over $3.9 billion across multiple 2025 deals to energy companies to cancel offshore wind leases and redirect that capital to fossil fuel projects, including ~$1B to TotalEnergies, $885M in April, $765M to Invenergy, $129M to Duke Energy, and $1.22B to RWE.
- RWE received $1.22 billion on August 6 to abandon leases in New York Bight and off the California coast, with RWE stating 'there is no path forward to permit these projects in the U.S. for the foreseeable future'; the deal replaces them with $300M in methane gas turbines for data centers and a stake in a Louisiana LNG terminal.
- Invenergy received $765 million for four leases in NY/NJ, California, and Maine, though this deal also includes some Western geothermal development; Duke Energy got $129 million for a 1.6GW Carolina Long Bay project that would have powered 375,000 homes, announced the same day Duke urged Carolinas customers to raise thermostats during a heat wave.
- Doug Burgum's Interior has repeatedly tried to halt wind and solar while fast-tracking fossil fuel projects with 'concierge' service, with courts reversing multiple efforts as illegal, including a federal ruling on August 6 that blocked Interior's national security justification for delaying wind permits.
- US electricity rates hit their highest level ever recorded in July 2025, while Invenergy projects demand will grow 20-40% over the next decade; Interior's deals allegedly violate the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and illegally draw from the Judgment Fund.
- California has dropped from 5 offshore wind projects to 2 (losing power equivalent to 2 million homes) and announced intent to sue, while a coalition of states already sued over the TotalEnergies deal earlier this year.
- RWE continues growing its offshore wind portfolio in other countries, the article notes, writing: 'Apparently, the rest of the globe gets access to abundant, cheap, clean energy, while America bribes companies to stop giving us the electricity we need.'
Why it matters: Over $3.9 billion in taxpayer funds has been redirected from cheap offshore wind to gas projects during the worst US electricity affordability crisis on record, with courts repeatedly finding the payments illegal — meaning ratepayers are subsidizing both higher bills and the legal fallout while demand is projected to surge 20-40% over the next decade.
