Offshore Wind Exit
Trump Administration Pays $765 Million to Terminate Offshore Wind Leases, Shifting Focus
Key Points
Invenergy said it would “voluntarily terminate” specific leases: Morro Bay (California), the New York Bight, and two lease areas in the Gulf of Maine, rather than attempt to continue development under a federal permitting halt.
Invenergy planned to deploy the returned money into a defined set of natural-gas-fired power projects in Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri (not just broadly “the Midwest”).
The deal leaves only three offshore wind leases still intact off California—one off Morro Bay and two off Humboldt Bay—and the article notes the Trump administration previously terminated nearly half a billion dollars in Humboldt officials’ planned offshore-wind use.
Invenergy also said it already holds 45 geothermal leases from the Bureau of Land Management and that it purchased about 5,000 acres in New Mexico the day before the offshore-wind exit announcement.
The Trump administration agreed to pay Chicago-based Invenergy $765 million to walk away from four federal offshore wind leases, the government announced June 17. The Business Journal reported the deal covers sites off California's Morro Bay, the New York Bight, and two areas in the Gulf of Maine — pushing the administration's total wind lease buyout spending to roughly $2.6 billion in 2026 alone.
Invenergy will use the money to build natural-gas-fired power plants in Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri, and expand its geothermal energy portfolio in the western U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the offshore leases were sold on "assumptions that taxpayers would indefinitely subsidize costly, unreliable projects" — assumptions he called "proven false."
A $2.6 Billion Campaign to Kill Offshore Wind
This is the third major wind lease buyout this year. In March 2026, the administration paid French energy giant TotalEnergies nearly $1 billion to surrender leases in the New York Bight. In April, it paid $765 million to Bluepoint Wind and $120 million to Golden State Wind, according to The Business Journal. The Invenergy deal brings the running total to about $2.6 billion in taxpayer-funded exits.
The administration has used three tools to force developers out. First, a total freeze on federal construction permits put projects in legal limbo. Second, the Pentagon raised formal objections that turbines interfere with military radar. Third, Congress stripped tax credits from offshore wind while keeping them for gas and geothermal, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Invenergy Pivots to Gas Plants and Geothermal Wells
Invenergy SVP Daniel Runyan said the company is "focused on delivering reliable, affordable energy" into projects that can be built on "a commercially reasonable timeline." Gas plants typically take 3–5 years to build. Offshore wind can take more than 10 years. The $765 million gives Invenergy a faster path to revenue without fighting a hostile federal government.
The geothermal push is already underway. Invenergy holds 45 geothermal leases covering 144,000 acres in Nevada, Idaho, California, Utah, and New Mexico. The day before the wind deal closed, it bought 5,000 acres of new geothermal rights in New Mexico from the Bureau of Land Management, according to Canary Media. Unlike wind or solar, geothermal plants generate power around the clock.
California's Offshore Wind Program Near Collapse
Invenergy paid $145.3 million for the Morro Bay lease at a Biden-era federal auction in December 2022, according to the Los Angeles Times. Surrendering it now leaves only three offshore wind leases still active off California — one near Morro Bay and two near Humboldt Bay. The state had planned to use offshore wind to help meet its clean-energy goals.
The Humboldt leases are also under pressure. The Trump administration previously ended nearly $500 million in planned federal support for Humboldt Bay port upgrades that were needed to build those projects. Without port infrastructure, the remaining leases may be commercially unviable even if they survive.
Senate Probe and Seven-State Lawsuit Threaten the Deals
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse launched a Senate investigation into the buyouts, calling them "shady backroom deals" using taxpayer funds to "rig America's energy future." Public Citizen's David Arkush was sharper, saying Trump's energy agenda is "about one thing: blocking cheaper renewable power to force Americans to pay more money to his fossil-fuel cronies."
On June 3, a coalition of seven states — New York, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont — sued the administration to stop the lease cancellation strategy. If courts rule the Department of the Interior cannot buy back leases to sidestep Congressional energy mandates, all three buyout agreements could be voided. U.S. electricity demand is projected to grow 20–40% over the next decade, according to The Wall Street Journal, raising the stakes for whichever energy sources end up filling the gap.
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