The Trump administration has reached a $1.22 billion settlement with German energy firm RWE to abandon offshore wind leases off New York, California, and Louisiana, bringing total federal buyback spending to nearly $4 billion. RWE will redirect $900 million of the payout into a Louisiana LNG project and $300 million into natural gas turbines. While Interior Secretary Doug Burgum hailed the deal for supporting affordable baseload power, Democratic lawmakers and state officials condemned the buyouts as illegal fossil fuel subsidies that destroy clean energy capacity.
RWE offshore wind lease settlement
- ▪German energy company RWE reached a $1.22 billion settlement with the Trump administration on August 6, 2026, to relinquish its offshore wind leases off the coasts of New York, California, and Louisiana.
- ▪The $1.22 billion settlement resolves RWE's legal claims against the United States government and allows the company to direct resources toward energy projects that can be advanced with certainty.
- ▪RWE stated that despite years of planning and investment, it determined there was no viable path forward to permit its US offshore wind projects in the foreseeable future.
Trump administration buyback payments
- ▪The Trump administration signed a $129 million agreement with Charlotte-based Duke Energy to terminate the company's offshore wind lease in the Carolina Long Bay area.
- ▪The $1.22 billion agreement with RWE brings the Trump administration's total spending on offshore wind lease buybacks to nearly $4 billion across five separate deals.
- ▪The Trump administration's previous lease buybacks include a $928 million deal with TotalEnergies, a $900 million combined deal with Golden State Wind and Bluepoint Wind, and a $765 million deal with Invenergy.
- ▪US Representative Jared Huffman stated that the Trump administration is using the federal Judgment Fund as a personal slush fund to finance the offshore wind lease buyouts.
Fossil fuel reinvestment requirements
- ▪Under the March 2026 agreement with the US Department of the Interior, TotalEnergies agreed to reroute its investment to build a liquefied natural gas plant in Texas and develop conventional oil in the Gulf of Mexico.
- ▪RWE committed to spending $300 million on natural gas turbines and is developing 15 natural gas projects across the United States.
- ▪As part of the settlement, RWE will invest $900 million to acquire an indirect 16% stake in a liquefied natural gas export terminal project in Louisiana.
US clean energy capacity loss
- ▪By relinquishing its leases, RWE is giving up wind power capacity that could have provided approximately seven gigawatts of clean electricity, sufficient to power more than 5 million homes.
- ▪RWE's canceled California lease off the coast of Humboldt had the capacity for up to 1.6 gigawatts of offshore wind power, enough to power about 600,000 homes.
- ▪The RWE settlement leaves only two active offshore wind leases intact along the US West Coast: one off Morro Bay and one off Humboldt Bay.
Federal permitting obstacles
- ▪RWE largely halted its US offshore wind operations in 2025 following Trump administration actions that included canceling federal funding and ordering halts to East Coast wind projects.
- ▪The Trump administration adopted the lease buyback strategy after federal courts thwarted its initial executive efforts to stop offshore wind development.
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