1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

I’m writing today to urge you to block the Trump Department of Interior killing deals with several companies now that are working on offshore wind projects on both coasts. First corrupt move: TotalEnergies deal that pays the company $1 billion to abandon offshore wind projects off North Carolina and New York. This is a misuse of taxpayer money to block clean energy. Now two more companies are taking payouts to cancel long-planned offshore wind projects. Now add the Blue Point Wind and Golden State Wind projects, and another billion dollars of taxpayer money. This is the Trump Administration’s way to get around court rulings. After federal judges repeatedly overturned attempts to halt offshore wind construction, the administration found a new tactic: bribing companies to quit. TotalEnergies is getting a full refund of its $928 million in lease payments after it agrees to invest in fossil fuels instead of wind. The two cancelled projects would have generated 4 gigawatts of power, enough for 1.3 million homes. The other two projects would be similar in scope. Not only is this a misappropriation of tax dollars, millions more have been wasted by state and local agencies on studies, environmental reviews, bids and re-bids, and loss of business and the whole clean energy supply chain. The administration calls these an "innovative agreement," but it's paying a private company to walk away from projects that would lower electricity costs for families as natural gas prices rise because the illegal and undeclared Iran War. Meanwhile, one of the previously blocked projects, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, just started delivering power to the grid this year. Many states are building offshore wind because it increases affordable electricity supply. This deal undermines state energy plans as well, and wastes public money to prop up fossil fuel interests. Block these agreements and any similar schemes to pay companies not to develop renewable energy. Thank you.