Markey, Ocasio-Cortez Blast Trump Administration Attempt to Pay $1 Billion in Taxpayer Funding to Kill Offshore Wind Projects

Letter Text (PDF)
Washington (March 31, 2026) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, today wrote to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum in opposition to the Trump administration’s decision to pay TotalEnergies, a French energy company, nearly $1 billion in U.S. taxpayer money to cancel two offshore wind facilities off the East Coast of the United States. The lawmakers asked the Administration to stop this pay-off, which will keep much-needed American-made power off the grid, and to explain the statutory authority and funding source of the proposed transfer. The wind farms could have produced enough electricity to power more than one million homes and businesses in New York and New Jersey, and approximately 300,000 in North Carolina.
In the letter, the lawmakers wrote, “With the TotalEnergies payoff, the Trump administration promises an extraordinary transfer of taxpayer dollars to a foreign company to halt private offshore wind development and prop up fossil fuel company exports and profits. It has done so with no explanation of its authority—or the source of the funding—to transmit $1 billion to a private company. Moreover, TotalEnergies has made clear it will plow these taxpayer-funded proceeds into expanded oil and gas development, including a Texas liquefied natural gas export facility, effectively using U.S. public funds to ship American energy overseas, strain domestic supply, weaken grid reliability, and expose American families to higher and more volatile prices.”
The lawmakers requested responses to questions by April 10, 2026, that include:
In December 2025, Senators Markey and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent aletterto Secretary Doug Burgum and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth demanding access to the Department of Defense classified reports that the Department of Interior cited in its decision to announce a pause on leases for all large-scale offshore wind projects under construction in the United States.
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