The Trump administration announced it will pay nearly $1 billion to French energy giant TotalEnergies in exchange for the company abandoning plans to build offshore wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean and instead pursue fossil fuel projects in the US.
The current administration has thrown up roadblocks at every turn for offshore wind projects; a type of energy that President Donald Trump has personally reviled for years. After trying and failing to block construction on more mature projects, this announcement is the first sign of a new strategy: The federal government is paying to stop wind farms before they begin.
If the headline made it sound bad, it’s worse:
Not only has the company been paid off, it seems ol’ Pat got himself a nice, tidy bag o’ cash on the side.
As if it’s even worth pointing out the atom-thin silver lining: at least they called the Gulf of Mexico by its actual real name