In 2026, the United States finds itself in a strange situation. Despite facing an impending energy shortage, the Trump administration has struck a deal to pay offshore wind developers about $2 billion in taxes to exit energy projects.
These politically motivated moves are harming the American people far more than mere acquisitions.
The community has been laying the groundwork for ocean energy projects for many years. Offshore wind energy development brings jobs and economic development that will reshape local economies, with public and private investments reaching hundreds of billions of dollars over the years. East Coast communities built ports to support industry and launched job training programs to prepare workers. Construction, maintenance, and transportation industries are booming, and the number of side jobs that support these industries is also increasing.
Offshore wind power provides jobs and economic development. State Pier in New London, Conn., serves as a transit point for wind farm construction and supply.
AP Photo/Ted Shafley
The loss of the project, and the threat of loss of other wind farms planned, will likely mean higher energy prices. And while some offshore wind farm construction is progressing, developers must consider both the loss of momentum and increased uncertainty caused by the Trump administration.
As a result, Americans will bear the economic brunt of these decisions for decades to come.
How did America get here?
To understand how the United States got into this predicament, let’s take a step back.
In March 2023, leaders from three U.S. federal agencies under the Biden administration met with the CEOs of U.S. technology and manufacturing giants Microsoft, Amazon, Ford, GM, Dow Chemical, and GE at the annual ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit, under the banner of “Affordable, Reliable, and Safe American Energy.”
They agreed on important points. It was that the nation faced a severe shortage of electronics to propel American business forward.
Fortunately, there were many solutions. Over the past five years, huge amounts of onshore wind and solar power have been installed. More than 80% of the new electricity added to the U.S. power grid came from these two sources.
Particularly exciting were plans to build large-scale offshore wind farms up and down the East Coast. Taken together, wind farms will generate 30 gigawatts of new electricity by 2030, enough to power more than 10 million homes, and reduce fluctuations in energy prices thanks to long-term power purchase agreements.
At the time, the United States had one small wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island and two wind turbines off the coast of Virginia, while Europe had been operating large-scale offshore wind projects for more than 20 years and was building more.
In the months following the 2023 meeting, leasing and permitting continued for megaprojects in the United States, with construction beginning in some areas.
The map of offshore wind lease areas shows the number of companies paying the United States to lease ocean areas for offshore wind farms. Several wind farms off the coast of New England are already in operation. The lease areas where the Trump administration has used taxpayer funds to persuade companies to cancel wind projects include two lease areas: Atento Energy off the coast of New Jersey and Total Energy Co. off the coast of South Carolina, as well as Blue Point Wind, also off the coast of New Jersey.
U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Then, in 2025, the Trump administration was born. As president, Donald Trump immediately issued an executive order halting the sale of offshore wind leases and all permits, permits, and financing for wind farms. He has made his disdain for wind power clear since losing a fight to block the construction of a small wind farm near his golf course in Scotland in the 2010s.
The administration changed strategy after a federal judge declared President Trump’s executive order unconstitutional in December 2025.
In March 2026, news outlets began reporting on an agreement in which the federal government would pay three offshore wind project developers hundreds of millions of dollars, agree to halt development of permitted projects, not build others, and repurpose the funds into fossil fuel projects.
According to talks reportedly involving French energy company TotalEnergies, the money will be paid through the Home Office’s Judgment Fund, which is intended to pay legal settlements, even though there is no active litigation with TotalEnergies.
Other projects Trump had agreed to buy as of early May were the Golden State Wind Farm in California and the Blue Point Wind Farm off the coasts of New Jersey and New York. Both are jointly owned by Ocean Winds, a joint venture between French energy company Engie and EDP Renewables, headquartered in Spain. The California Energy Commission and members of Congress are currently investigating the move.
Offshore wind power means local investment
Whether these acquisitions are legal or not, the losers are the U.S. taxpayers and the U.S. economy, which needs more electrons on the grid, not less.
One analysis predicts that deploying 40 GW along the U.S. East Coast by 2035 will generate approximately $140 billion in investment, much of which will be focused on port infrastructure and supply chain development.
In early 2026, New York City announced a $300 million state grant program to expand port infrastructure to support offshore wind power generation. Additionally, more than $600 million has been invested in the New Jersey Wind Farm to enable turbine manufacturing and assembly.
Workers in New London, Conn., are preparing generators and their blades for transport to South Fork Wind’s offshore wind farm in 2023. Building an offshore wind farm requires manufacturers, component suppliers, dockers, crane operators, ship crews, as well as wind farm construction and maintenance teams, as well as many companies and their employees.
AP Photo/Seth Wenig
In 2025, the California Legislature approved $225.7 million in spending for offshore wind farms and related facilities.
However, for these projects to benefit local communities, communities need to see wind farm development.
kill the job
Canceling planned projects also takes jobs away from hard-working blue-collar Americans.
The construction and installation of offshore wind turbines requires the expertise of skilled electrical workers, pipefitters, welders, pile drivers, ironworkers, mechanics, and carpenters.
The cost of offshore wind power in the future depends on investments made today. As the infrastructure is established and expertise grows, each subsequent project becomes easier to build, with lower risk and cost.
This pattern is already evident globally, with the levelized cost of electricity from offshore wind falling by 62% globally between 2010 and 2024.
If we cancel projects or buy back leases, we lose the electricity that those projects would have produced. It also slows the accumulation of experience, scale, and maturity of the supply chain, leading to lower costs over time.
The result is increased costs for future projects and electricity ratepayers.
energy crisis
Developing a robust offshore wind industry provides resilience in the face of volatile global energy markets.
Future U.S. and global energy demand is expected to increase significantly, driven primarily by the rapid expansion of AI data centers and the electrification of vehicles, homes, and businesses.
Restricting the supply of homegrown energy would raise energy costs for Americans, especially in areas where wind farms were supposed to be installed (New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, California).
Due to the federal government’s takeover, the United States is losing 8 GW of planned generation, enough to power more than 3 million homes. This generation would require replacing it with other energy sources or extending transmission lines, which could take seven to 10 years to obtain permits and build. The leased project was scheduled to provide new clean power generation fairly quickly. Removing them will restart the project’s clock.
Along with energy imports from abroad, such as the electricity sent to New York from Canada, reliance on dirtier, conventional forms of power generation will increase, leading to higher and more unstable power prices.
Evidence from Europe shows that offshore wind power can also reduce electricity costs for consumers by lowering wholesale prices and reducing dependence on fossil fuels and their volatile prices.
When completed in 2026, Vineyard Wind I, an offshore wind farm, will generate 806 MW of electricity, enough to power approximately 400,000 homes, and is projected to save Massachusetts customers approximately $1.4 billion on their electricity bills over the next 20 years. The project’s 20-year fixed-price contract also reduced prices during cold weather and peak gas demand periods, reducing volatility and costs.
From jobs to local economic development to power costs, we believe canceling these offshore wind projects is a bad deal for U.S. taxpayers.
