The fossil fuel industry, and therefore the Trump administration, does not want this to keep happening. Pushed back by the courts, it\u2019s now turning to payoffs. <\/p>\n
According to The New York Times<\/a>, the Interior Department is drafting agreements that would pay almost $1 billion to a French company that has won the rights to build two wind farms off New York and North Carolina. In return, the company would abandon the wind projects and invest instead in natural gas production in Texas. <\/p>\n Just to be clear: The administration wants to use our money to pay off a private company so that, instead of cheaper and cleaner energy, we get more expensive, dirty fuel. Well, they\u2019re certainly committed: Committed to frying the planet, and to ripping us off in every direction.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery wind turbine cuts into their profit margin, and every solar panel does, too,\u201d said Larry Chretien, head of the Boston- and Providence-based Green Energy Consumers Alliance<\/a>, whose mission is to speed the transition to zero carbon emissions. \u201cThe offshore wind developers know it, and the fossil fuel companies know it too.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump is not just subsidizing the fuel industry by nixing climate rules and cutting their taxes. He is actively trying to block the alternatives, so that we have to stay hooked on oil and gas. <\/p>\n Aren\u2019t these the guys who are always banging on about the free market?<\/p>\n The thing is, that very market might come back to bite them. <\/p>\n The people who voted for Trump are all too happy to fall in line when it comes to denying climate science, chanting, \u201cDrill, baby, drill,\u201d and poking fun at Priuses.<\/p>\n But spiking gas prices have a way of making electric vehicles and clean energy seem suddenly less hilarious<\/a>. The president\u2019s attack on Iran, a $24 billion-plus <\/a>(so far) debacle, is costing even the most devoted MAGA cultists, as prices at the pump soar. <\/p>\n \u201cThis war of choice that Trump has decided to launch is demonstrating as clearly as can be why the transition away from fossil fuel to renewable energy is imperative,\u201d said Kate Sinding Daly, senior vice president for law and policy at the Conservation Law Foundation. <\/p>\n The Trump administration has set us back, but he can\u2019t block progress forever, particularly as clean energy gets cheaper by the day.<\/a> <\/p>\n \u201cHe is throwing everything he can out there, including this latest, truly insane proposal to pay companies not to develop offshore wind,\u201d Sinding Daly said. \u201cThe proof is in the pudding. Renewable energy continues to grow in the country even in the face of his unrelenting attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n Chretien believes that, if it goes on much longer, the Iran war has the makings of an oil crisis that could rival the shortages of the 1970s. In response to that crisis:<\/a> Denmark embraced wind energy, the Dutch took to their bikes, and France leaned into nuclear power. Europe adapted again<\/a> after Russia\u2019s 2022 invasion of Ukraine limited their supply of oil, prompting them to adopt efficiency measures faster than any climate agreement could, according to energy expert Jigar Shah. <\/a><\/p>\n The United States is more stubborn, and less nimble, than other countries<\/a>, but it could still happen here. And if it did, it would be in part thanks to Trump.<\/p>\n The planet\u2019s loudest, most dangerous defender of fossil fuels could also be the most effective hype man renewables could ever hope for. <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CYPCFIFU5DT35LRANMGEBLHT54.jpg\")
A Trump campaign event on Aug. 29, 2024, in Potterville, Mich. Alex Brandon\/Associated Press![\"Climate](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/LFZ4RL4NVFECJEXHTQK6GEBX6I.jpg\")
Climate activists in Berlin, Germany on March 3.Sean Gallup\/Getty<\/p>\n