US to pay TotalEnergies to drop offshore wind leases

The Department of Interior says a French energy company has agreed to give up two U.S. offshore wind leases and invest in fossil fuel projects instead. The department said Monday that TotalEnergies committed to invest approximately $1 billion in oil and natural gas production in the United States. That is the amount the company paid to purchase leases to develop offshore wind off the coasts of North Carolina and New York. The Trump administration has tried to halt offshore wind construction, but federal judges overturned those orders. These settlements are a different way of stopping U.S. offshore wind development. President Donald Trump has gone all in on fossil fuels.