Democrats investigate as Trump OKs almost $2 billion in taxpayer money to end offshore wind projects

Source: AP

Updated 2:23 PM EDT, April 29, 2026


The Trump administration is spending nearly $2 billion to get energy companies to walk away from U.S. offshore wind projects. Democrats in Congress are investigating.

The Republican administration adopted this strategy after federal courts thwarted President Donald Trump’s efforts to stop offshore wind development through executive action. Three agreements have been announced.

U.S. Reps. Jared Huffman of California, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, and Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, are demanding information about the first and largest of the three. Under a deal made public in March, French company TotalEnergies is getting $1 billion — essentially a refund of its leases for offshore wind projects off North Carolina and New York— if it invests the money in fossil fuel projects instead. Huffman said that is a “scam” and the administration is going to “light a lot of federal taxpayer money on fire if we let them.”

In a letter sent Wednesday to TotalEnergies and provided to The Associated Press, Huffman and Raskin are letting the company know that Democrats have begun an investigation, are demanding documents and communications and are advising the CEO not to take the money. The letter outlines the ways they think the deal appears to be illegal.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/trump-offshore-wind-payouts-democrats-investigation-climate-3cf2dd4eb0cc9cc5442e204583057453