Hickenlooper, Colleagues Launch Investigation into Trump’s Efforts to Abandon Already Paid-For Offshore Wind Projects

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper and 13 Senate colleagues launched an investigation into the Trump administration's efforts to kill offshore wind energy projects. The Trump administration has agreed to pay four companies more than $2.7 billion in taxpayer funding to abandon offshore wind projects. The lawmakers pressed four offshore wind companies about the lease buyout agreements.

"These buyouts have been announced amid a larger effort by the Trump Administration to stall wind and solar projects - the energy sources that are cheap, clean, and fastest to bring online - across the country," wrote the senators.

The senators continued: "At a time when gas prices have spiked by an average of more than $1 dollar per gallon due to the President's war in Iran and electricity prices are rising nearly twice as fast as inflation, clean energy offers a critical opportunity to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and relieve costs for people across the country."

Hickenlooper has called out Republican attacks on clean energy and introduced the Lowering Electric Bills Act to protect clean energy projects. He introduced the Geo POWER Act to help deliver clean, affordable electricity across the country, the bipartisan Co-Location Energy Act to expedite the permitting and construction of wind and solar projects on existing federal agency leases. Hickenlooper was also instrumental in passing the Inflation Reduction Act, which invested $373 billion in the climate and clean energy transition and continues to fight Trump administration attacks on the legislation and their attempts to hike energy costs for American families.

The full letter is available HERE and below:

Dear [TotalEnergies, Ocean Winds, Duke Energy, Invenergy]:

We write to express deep concern with your company's voluntary termination of [nine] leases to develop offshore wind energy in the United States. Over the last few months, President Trump's Administration has agreed to pay companies, including [TotalEnergies, Ocean Winds, Duke Energy, Invenergy], a total of more than $2.7 billion in taxpayer dollars to abandon projects that could have delivered energy to communities spanning from California to North Carolina to Maine. We are concerned that these decisions will harm grid reliability, job opportunities, and economic development in states across the country, and we request your response to several inquiries.

Since March, 2026, the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have announced agreements to terminate eight leases for offshore wind projects, including TotalEnergies' leases for Attentive Energy in the New York Bight and Carolina Long Bay; Ocean Winds' leases for Bluepoint Wind in the New York Bight and Golden State Wind off Morro Bay in California; and Invenergy's leases in the New York Bight, Gulf of Maine, Morro Bay in California's Central Coast, and Duke Energy's lease in the Carolina Long Bay. The Trump Administration agreed to reimburse companies for their leases in exchange for investments in oil, gas, and geothermal projects that, in large part, will be hundreds of miles away from the states that were planning for these offshore wind projects. In total, the Trump Administration's agreements could result in the loss of more than 15 GW of planned, fixed-price clean energy, which would have helped meet increasing energy demand in regions such as New England and the Mid-Atlantic that are already facing supply constraints.

These projects were poised not only to advance U.S. leadership in clean energy technology and generation capacity, but also to unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in federal and state investment in research and development, port upgrades, workforce development, and community benefit agreements. The two Invenergy projects in the Gulf of Maine were expected to help power more than 2 million homes and support over 18,000 jobs. The Leading Light Wind project in the New York Bight was projected to generate more than $3.7 billion in economic development benefits and over 7,000 jobs. The Golden State Wind project off California's Central Coast would have powered 1.1 million homes, created more than 8,000 jobs, and delivered a $30 million commitment to workforce development and supply chain initiatives.

Several states have already begun making substantial investments to prepare for offshore wind projects to move forward, including over $100 million in investments by California to modernize ports and support planning. By accepting DOI's buyout deals, you are stranding these investments, undermining job expectations, and disrupting the yearslong process of electricity capacity planning by states and utilities.

These buyouts have been announced amid a larger effort by the Trump Administration to stall wind and solar projects - the energy sources that are cheap, clean, and fastest to bring online - across the country. In December 2025, the Administration paused the construction of five largescale offshore wind projects, claiming "national security risks." Secretary Burgum issued a directive requiring his personal review and approval of every wind and solar energy project on public lands, holding up at least 57GW as identified in court documents. The Department of Defense is holding up all new wind projects on private land, a total of more than 30 GW of onshore wind capacity. At a time when gas prices have spiked by an average of more than $1 dollar per gallon due to the President's war in Iran and electricity prices are rising nearly twice as fast as inflation, clean energy offers a critical opportunity to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and relieve costs for people across the country. Dismantling the burgeoning offshore wind industry now and creating broader uncertainty for investment in cheap, clean energy will have consequences for decades to come.

There is no law that entitles leaseholders to refunds for voluntarily surrendering a lease, and lease cancellations must be executed according to the law. The Trump Administration has asserted that these payments can be made from the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Judgment Fund-a position that may not be permissible under statute and that is the subject of ongoing litigation brought by the attorneys general of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont. These buyouts risk setting a dangerous precedent that could encourage further misuse of public funds to terminate clean energy projects in certain states in favor of fossil fuel investments that benefit other states.

In light of these questions and concerns, and to better understand the legal basis for the lease buyout agreements between your company and DOI, we request the following information by August 7, 2026:

• Please state when initial conversations began between your company and the Administration regarding initiating a lease buyout agreement.

• Please state if anyone in the Trump Administration communicated to your company, whether verbal or written, that it would suspend your offshore wind projects if the project moved forward. If communication occurred, please provide responses to the following:

1. Did your company consider the threat of suspension a viable threat?

1. Did your company communicate directly that it would file suit for a breach of contract if the Trump Administration suspended your company's project(s)? Please provide all supporting documentation and communications.

• Please state what national security issues, if any, the Trump Administration raised or identified with your company with respect to the terminated leases.

• Please state if your company or any representative of DOI or the Trump Administration provided notice to the states affected by the lease terminations. If not, why not?

• Please state whether DOI held a hearing related to the planned termination of your company's leases. If so, please describe.

• Please state which projects your company has agreed to reinvest in and the settled payments amount. In responding to this question, please provide the following information:

1. The location of these projects.

1. If specific projects have not been identified, how and when will those investments be chosen?

1. If the specific projects have been identified, was your company already planning in investing in those projects prior to the settlement, or is the investment contingent on receiving funds from DOI?

1. If your company accepted an agreement with DOI in exchange for a pledge to invest in fossil fuel projects, describe the nature of the pledge and note whether any aspects of the pledge are legally binding.

• Please state whether your company currently has other clean energy projects that are pending review by DOI, the Department of Defense, or any other federal government agency. In responding to this question, please provide the following information:

1. The name and type of project(s) affected and the location.

1. The total generation capacity at risk by ongoing delays.

1. The total amount of investment at risk by ongoing delays.

1. The total number of jobs supported by the projects that are stalled.

• Please provide all correspondence with DOI, including with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and any email correspondence, papers, books, records, and documents in your possession or under your control relating to these agreements.

We look forward to your prompt response with the information requested above.

Sincerely,

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