Oceantic Statement: Federal Administration Seizes More Taxpayer Dollars to Stop Affordable, American Energy and Raise Energy Prices

The Department of the Interior announced another agreement to buy back four offshore wind leases in California, New York, and the Gulf of Maine from Invenergy, claiming it furthers energy security and affordability. The developer will be reimbursed their lease sale fees and committed to  making financial investments in natural gas and geothermal energy projects in the U.S.

In response, Oceantic Network has released the following statement from Sam Salustro, SVP of Policy & Market Affairs: 

"The administration’s plan to pay Invenergy $765 million to walk away from legally executed offshore wind leases is an unlawful misuse of taxpayer dollars and the latest tactic to derail domestic energy development while energy prices soar. Rather than supporting large-scale, homegrown energy solutions which are already delivering savings for Northeast residents, these actions undermine local economies and threaten American jobs and energy affordability. States are already stepping up to defend their energy futures and must continue to do so. These continued attacks ignore billions in private investment and state commitments and will leave consumers paying more while viable projects are dismantled for a personal vendetta. This administration's legacy will be seizing $2.5 billion from taxpayers to stop affordable energy as families struggle to pay their energy bills."

Oceantic estimates the cancellation of a single 1 GW offshore wind project permanently erases $8.5–$9.5 billion in U.S. economic output, based on peer reviewed modeling and operational project benchmarks from the East Coast. On average, about 3,350 construction jobs nationwide are lost, with substantial impacts on the in-state workforce depending on the project’s location, accompanied by hundreds of millions of dollars in lost wages.

Oceantic Network | https://oceantic.org/