Trump wants to spend $1 billion to stop his nemesis—wind farms

Everybody knows that Trump’s irrational hatred of wind farms is driving our energy policy these days. But after court after court told Trump he can’t just arbitrarily block these almost-completed projects, the administration has a new plan: Using almost $1 billion of your tax dollars to permanently block those wind farms.

The administration is kicking around the absolutely unhinged notion of paying TotalEnergies, which is building two wind farms in New York and North Carolina, $928 million, the amount TotalEnergies paid for the leases to build the farms. Then, the administration gets to cancel the leases. No leases, no wind farms. 

Oh, also, TotalEnergies would have to agree to invest in a natural gas infrastructure in Texas. So, the Trump administration is going to waste nearly $1 billion, and while they’re at it, force TotalEnergies to switch from providing clean, unlimited wind power to yet another return to limited, pollution-y fossil fuels. 

Isn’t it great to have our energy future in the hands of one man who thinks that wind farms “drive whales crazy,” that they are “killing our economy,” and that the wind is the most expensive form of energy. If someone cornered you at a party saying this sort of thing, you’d edge away, leaving them to find another unwilling victim to listen to their conspiracy nonsense. But you can’t edge away from the president, unfortunately.

The New York wind farm was expected to generate enough clean energy for almost 1 million homes. And this is at a time when Trump has declared that we have a national energy emergency. But somehow, that emergency can only be solved by fossil fuels instead of the nefarious, terrifying wind. 

Of course, natural gas isn’t the only fossil fuel the administration is pushing on the nation. It is also forcing coal companies to keep aging coal plants running, even when that costs consumers more. And coal even has a mascot! Making energy more expensive seems like a pretty weird way to solve an energy emergency, but what do we know?

Trump also delegated his authority under the Defense Production Act to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who just invoked it to compel the restarting of an oil pipeline in California, despite state officials keeping it offline and opposing any restart. What does a pipeline have to do with national defense?

Well, Trump’s war, of course, as Wright explained: “Today, more than 60% of the oil refined in California comes from overseas, with a significant share traveling through the Strait of Hormuz—presenting serious national security threats” and this will “strengthen America’s oil supply and restore a pipeline system vital to our national security and defense, ensuring that West Coast military installations have the reliable energy critical to military readiness.”

This is quite the stretch: Trump wrecked access to oil via the Strait of Hormuz, which in turn makes California a national security risk because it gets some oil via that route, so we need a pipeline for our national security.

Wright is also obscuring how much of California’s oil comes through the Strait by waving around that 60% number and not breaking it down. The actual amount of California oil that comes through the Strait is much closer to 30%.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Trump’s fetish for war and oil has led to a catastrophic increase in gas prices, and his relentless attacks on wind farms are making the future prospects of the entire wind power industry pretty dim. 

And while the United States is being battered by increased fossil fuel costs, other countries have been smart enough to invest in clean energy and may be able to weather Trump’s war better.

But for now, enjoy your higher gas prices and your tax dollars paying to kill a clean energy project that would make your energy prices cheaper. It’s a lose-lose.