A Major Offshore Wind Farm Just Finished Construction. Trump Is Already Plotting a Counterattack

Vineyard Wind, one of five major offshore wind projects the Trump administration attempted to halt in December, installed its final blade on Friday. This marked a major blow to President Trump in his diabolical war on offshore wind, but apparently he has a new battle strategy. Documents reviewed by The New York Times reportedly show that senior administration officials are drafting settlement agreements that would pay nearly $1 billion to TotalEnergies—a French energy company developing two wind farms off the coasts of New York State and North Carolina—if it agrees to abandon the projects. TotalEnergies would also have to commit to investing in natural gas infrastructure in Texas to get the payout, the NYT reports. “It is quite unusual for the administration to do this cash outlay, seemingly just because Trump doesn’t like offshore wind,” John Leshy, who served as the general counsel for the Interior Department during the Clinton administration, told the NYT. Gizmodo was not able to independently verify the contents of the documents. The move comes six weeks after federal judges shot down Trump’s attempt to halt Vineyard Wind and four other East Coast offshore wind projects. The ru