The following is attributable to Rob Freudenberg, Vice President, Energy & Environment, at RPA:
It is hard to imagine worse public policy than the announcement that the Trump Administration will pay $1 billion to the French firm TotalEnergies to relinquish its offshore wind lease areas and abandon their plans to develop a 3GW offshore wind project in the New York-New Jersey Bight that would have created at least 2,600 jobs. This is a devastating decision that will increase household energy costs, diminish New York’s future prospects for offshore wind energy in the near term, and ensure our continued dependence on carbon-emitting oil and gas.
The deal includes an agreement by TotalEnergies to reinvest the $1 billion it had paid to the US government for the leases into oil and gas projects in Texas and the Gulf of Mexico, which the company has already indicated will support the sale of liquid natural gas to Europe. This is yet another instance of the administration driving up energy bills for Americans, harming local economies (in this case, New York, New Jersey and North Carolina) increasing the country’s contribution to global climate change, and further eroding faith in the federal government and its contractual commitments.
This deal comes at a pivotal moment for New York, as ratepayers’ utility bills are on the rise and energy supply is failing to keep up with demand. As New York’s decision-makers grapple with the state’s own commitments to meet its landmark climate law (CLCPA), this latest effort by the Trump administration to hamstring the offshore wind industry, no matter the impact to energy bills and jobs, should strengthen their resolve. As we hurtle into the worst energy crisis in history, Governor Hochul and the NYS legislature must fight this reversal and use every tool at their disposal to insulate New Yorkers from the volatility of global oil and gas prices by doubling down on the clean, homegrown energy resources that can truly bring us energy independence.
While the Trump Administration can try to erase offshore wind projects and the designation of lease areas for them—just as these projects are starting to deliver on their promise for reliable, affordable, clean energy that puts people to work—it cannot escape the reality that a continued reliance on fossil fuels subjects citizens to unpredictable volatility in our energy bills, and leaves us short on new energy supplies.
The current war in Iran and its reverberations through our global economy bring into sharp focus the choice we face: do we want a future tied to greater dependence on climate-damaging oil and gas, subject to conflict and volatility beyond our control? Or do we want a future rooted in domestic, clean energy that strengthens our regional economy and reliably produces energy at predictable rates? The right choice is clear and within reach. Our state leaders must seize it.
