In a move that screams 'we're definitely not doing this for the fossil fuel industry,' the Trump administration has struck a $1.22bn deal with German energy company RWE to ditch its offshore wind leases and instead plow the money into fossil fuels. It's the fifth such agreement, bringing the total taxpayer tab for killing offshore wind to nearly $4bn. Because nothing says 'fiscal responsibility' like paying companies to not do clean energy.

RWE announced Thursday it would surrender its offshore wind leases off the coasts of New York, California, and Louisiana, citing 'no path forward to permit these projects in the US for the foreseeable future.' Translation: the administration made it so painful that they gave up. The company had initially secured these leases with a 'long-term commitment to develop offshore wind capacity,' but apparently that commitment had an expiration date.

RWE paid $1.1bn for its New York lease in a 2022 auction under the Biden administration, while its Louisiana and California leases cost a combined $163m. Now, the US government is paying them $1.22bn to walk away. That's a profit margin most startups would envy.

But wait, there's more. As part of the deal, RWE will spend $900m to acquire a 16% stake in an unnamed Louisiana liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, using the settlement proceeds to fund construction. They've also signed a $300m turbine reservation agreement to develop 15 natural gas peaker plants across the country. Because when you're paid to not do clean energy, you might as well double down on fossil fuels.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum hailed the deal as a win for 'energy security' and 'affordable electricity.' Critics might call it a 'sham deal' and 'illegal agreement,' as New York Attorney General Letitia James did after a similar $928m deal with TotalEnergies. But who's counting? Seven states, including New York, are suing the administration over that earlier deal, but that's just a minor detail.

The administration has also spent up to $1.1bn to boost coal, a move that critics say is 'fattening the wallets of his cronies' while raising energy bills for working Americans, especially as the US's war on Iran drives up fuel prices. Meanwhile, the federal government is cutting public input periods for fossil fuel drilling and shifting cleanup costs to taxpayers.

And in a delicious irony, a report by the Environmental Integrity Project found that every fully operational LNG facility in the US had violated federal pollution limits in recent years, discharging illegal amounts of bacteria, zinc, oil, and other pollutants into waterways. But sure, let's invest more in LNG. What could go wrong?