Congressional Democrats and California Investigate Doug Burgum’s Offshore Wind Development Taxpayer-Funded Buyouts
HELENA, MT – This week, California officials have joined Congressional Democrats in launching investigations into the Trump administration’s payouts to kill offshore wind projects. These sweetheart giveaways to foreign energy corporations cost the American taxpayer nearly $2 billion, all to pressure companies into abandoning lower cost energy development in the U.S. Under the first deal,French company TotalEnergies is receiving $1 billion for projects off North Carolina and New York, with the money slated to be used for a fossil fuel export project instead. In the latest round, Golden State Wind and Bluepoint Wind agreed to surrender their leases in exchange for nearly $900 million, provided they reinvest equally in fossil fuels.
In response, Save Our Parks Spokesperson Jayson O’Neill issued the following statement:
“Doug Burgum has spent over a year gutting America’s public lands protections, slashing the National Park Service, icing the public out of decisions, and handing the keys to the kingdom to extractive and fossil fuel interests. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s been cutting bad deals to funnel nearly $2 billion in taxpayer money to kill more affordable energy development. These shady Burgum agreements are publicly funded corruption, and they’re extremely costly for both taxpayers and ratepayers.
“Save Our Parks has been calling for investigations into Burgum’s corrupt, self-serving Interior Department since day one. Officials must demand answers on this taxpayer buyout scheme: How were these deals structured? Who benefited? What did Burgum promise behind closed doors?”
The new investigations into Burgum’s corrupt decisions to kill clean energy development at taxpayers’ expense come as uncovered emails obtained by Public Domain and Fieldnotes exposed billionaire CEO Harold Hamm’s Continental Resources provided a literal “roadmap” to Burgum’s Interior Department for skirting a federal court injunction to unlock drilling permits.
Burgum also announced his agency is transferring 1.4 million acres of federal public lands to the state of Alaska, in another clear giveaway to extractive corporate interests at the expense of Americans’ outdoors, wildlife, and water. It’s all part of Burgum’s fail-by-design strategy, consistent with Trump’s Project 2025, to sell off public lands and privatize parks.
Next week, another one of Burgum’s key anti-public lands crony, Selloff Steve Pearce, will face a Senate bloc confirmation on Monday, followed by the Interior Secretary testifying in front of House Natural Resources to answer questions about his disastrous FY 2027 proposed budget and this administration’s mismanagement of America’s beloved public lands and parks on Wednesday.
To speak with Save Our Parks spokesperson Jayson O’Neill, email jayson@focalpointstrategygroup.com.
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