After RWE disclosed its new gas investments as part of the deal, one climate campaigner declared that “committing to reinvest over $1 billion in fossil fuels is a disastrous mistake.”

Despite climate concerns and high prices from President Donald Trump’s illegal war on Iran, his administration continued its assault on offshore wind this week, using another “taxpayer-funded bribe” to convince a company to instead invest in fossil fuels.

The German company RWE announced Thursday that it had reached a settlement with the US Department of the Interior to relinquish offshore wind leases off the coasts of New York, California, and Louisiana for $1.22 billion.

“After careful consideration, it was determined there is no path forward to permit these projects in the US for the foreseeable future,” the firm said in a statement. “The company determined that this resolution best serves the interests of its stakeholders and allows it to direct resources toward energy projects that can be advanced with certainty.”

RWE also disclosed that it would put $900 million toward an indirect 16% stake in a Louisiana liquefied natural gas project, and $300 million toward turbines for a pipeline of 15 natural gas peaking projects across target US markets.

Reuters reported that the deal is “the fifth, and largest, the administration has entered into this year as part of its wide-ranging effort to stop development of US offshore wind projects,” which Trump has fought against since before becoming president. His current term has featured various moves collectively condemned as a “war against renewables.”

The RWE deal was ripped by climate and labor advocates, as well as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who said that “everything the Trump administration does can be summed up in four words: CORRUPTION AT YOUR EXPENSE.”

“Trump is again spending billions of taxpayer money to limit the US energy supply in favor of exporting more energy to countries like China,” Schumer wrote on social media. “This will only make your utility bill MORE expensive.”

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum fired back at Schumer, claiming that “your climate extremist energy ‘transition’ was actually energy SUBTRACTION,” and “ZERO taxpayer money will be spent. It’s a dollar-for-dollar repurposing of RWE’s own money.”

RWE explained that it had “invested more than $1 billion toward the leases and the development of these projects,” and the new agreement resolves the company’s “legal claims and provides $1.22 billion in settlement funds.”

Common Dream’s work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Feel free to republish and share widely.