The Trump administration is spending nearly $800 million to cancel offshore leases for four wind farms along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, repaying the project developer in exchange for investments in fossil fuels. 

This is the third time this year that the Interior Department has moved to reimburse wind developers for what they previously paid for the offshore leases. This creative strategy to stifle the wind energy industry follows the administration’s failed effort to block the construction of wind farms over national security concerns.