Companies and Big Oil Make Huge Profits While You Pay the Price
Americans are facing record energy costs while the Trump Administration continues its war against clean wind energy. Advocates for clean, affordable energy are fighting back.
In its latest move to block the development of clean wind energy, the Trump Administration is paying $1.2 billion to the German energy firm RWE to give up its offshore wind leases off the coasts of New York, California, and Louisiana, and redirect its American energy investments to fossil fuel development. This is the largest of several deals with other companies (including Duke Energy) to sell back their offshore wind power leases.
Taxes Paying for Cancellation of Clean Energy Projects
This part of Trump’s war on wind has already cost Americans almost $4 billion, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC): “So far, the Trump administration has handed out nearly $4 billion in U.S. taxpayer funds to companies to get them to walk away from offshore wind projects – canceling 12 leases that could have provided enough electricity to power 9.3 million homes.”
“Yet again, the Trump administration is wasting our money paying companies not to produce the energy we need now more than ever. While the administration is busy cutting checks to companies, American consumers are paying twice, once with their tax dollars and the second time with higher utility bills,” said Pasha Feinberg, NRDC offshore wind strategist. “It’s long past time for the Trump administration to end its war on clean energy so that customers’ bills won’t keep rising and our nation can meet its growing electricity demands.”
Governments Sue Trump Administration
Following one of the earlier buy-back deals, seven states, including New York, sued the Administration to reverse the transactions. “This administration cooked up a sham deal to pay a foreign energy company hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to abandon offshore wind and invest in oil and gas instead,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James. “We are fighting back to stop this illegal agreement that threatens to erase over a thousand union jobs and cheat millions of New Yorkers out of clean, affordable energy.”
In another case last week, a U.S. District Court Judge in Oregon ordered the Defense Department to lift its freeze on wind power projects. The clean energy groups which brought the lawsuit said that the freeze has since April stalled 106 wind projects in 21 states, representing an estimated $47 billion in potential investment.
Who Is Profiting?
It’s no coincidence that the oil and gas industry, as well as monopoly power companies like Duke Energy, are reporting huge profits over the first half of 2026. Duke reported $2.6 billion worth of profits in the first half of the year, up almost 12% from a year ago.
“While North Carolinians are choosing between putting food on the table and keeping the lights on, Duke Energy just announced their profits for quarter two: $1.077 billion in profits, versus $971 million in profits during the same period last year. This is what happens when Republican lawmakers and the NC Utilities Commission (NCUC) fail to adequately regulate a greedy, out-of-control monopoly: stockholders get rich, while we pay the price. Thousands of folks across the state are calling on lawmakers and the NCUC to rein in Duke’s greed and protect ratepayers. If they fail, voters will hold lawmakers accountable at the ballot box this fall,” said Dan Crawford, NCLCV senior director of government affairs. “We continue to support the efforts of Governor Josh Stein and Attorney General Jeff Jackson to lower Duke Energy’s unreasonable rate hike requests. We need more leaders like these putting people over profits.”
“Across the country, everyday people are being forced to make impossible decisions between putting food on the table and gas in the tank. Meanwhile, oil and gas CEOs are raking in their highest profits in years: over $40 billion and counting in just the last three months. This money is coming straight out of our pockets. Trump promised to cut energy bills in half in his first year in office, but the average family has spent an additional $504 on gas just since April,” said national League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Senior Federal Advocacy Campaigns Director Leah Donahey.
What Can You Do About It?
To have a clean and affordable energy future for our state and nation, voters must remember where candidates for state and federal office stand on these issues. NCLCV will continue to bring updates to our readers’ attention as they are released. See NCLCV Conservation PAC’s state legislative and judicial endorsements for this fall.
