Padilla leads push for answers about cancelled wind projects

Over the last several months, the Trump administration has made a series of announcements that the federal government would be buying back off-shore wind leases issued during the Biden administration for billions of dollars.

The effort is one of many by the Trump administration to end green energy programs in favor of coal, oil, and natural gas projects. But it caught the attention of a group of Democratic senators —many of whom represent states that stood to benefit from the wind farms in terms of jobs and lower energy costs.

“The cancellation of these projects makes no sense at a time where energy costs are going up for most Americans,” said Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., who co-led the letters with Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. and a dozen others.

The letters were sent to Invenergy, Duke Energy, Ocean Winds, and TotalEnergies after they agreed to the payouts, which total over $2.7 billion in taxpayer dollars. The lawmakers requested all correspondence between the companies and the federal government, and asked whether the companies accepted the agreement with the Department of Interior in exchange for a pledge to invest in fossil fuel projects, and “whether any aspects of the pledge are legally binding.”

“At a time where energy costs are soaring, more energy, more clean energy available for the grid is part of the solution. But that’s not what Donald Trump wants. He wants to kill clean energy projects and continue to reward his fossil fuel backers as prices are up for Americans,” said Padilla.

The four companies had until August 7 to respond to the senators, and Padilla’s office confirmed that it received a response to their inquiry from the companies, but would not disclose the contents of the responses with Spectrum News. A spokesperson categorized the responses as “not satisfactory.”

“The agreements these companies have struck with the Administration to cancel their renewable energy projects are shortsighted and will hurt America’s ability to scale affordable energy production at a time when families are already paying higher prices because of Trump’s unauthorized war in Iran. We will keep pressing the Administration and these companies for accountability as they continue to obscure the details behind these project cancellations,” Sen. Padilla said in a statement.

Since the senators sent their letters, German energy company RWE has also announced it has accepted $1.22 billion to stop plans for wind farms off the coasts of California, New York, and Louisiana.

Padilla and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, have also introduced legislation to reward companies that hold on to their leases rather than taking the payout — but with a Republican majority in Congress, the bill is likely dead on arrival.