Leading Democrat politicians in the US have written to TotalEnergies chairman and chief executive Patrick Pouyanné criticising the company’s recent deal to renounce two offshore wind leases

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin and House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman have sent letters to Mr Pouyanné, and to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and Acting Inspector General Caryl Brzymialkiewicz. In the letters, they demanded answers on the Trump administration’s scheme “to kill clean, affordable offshore wind energy for more oil and gas development.” In early April, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey also wrote to Secretary Burgum, demanding answers about a plan to pay TotalEnergies nearly US$1Bn to cancel the offshore windfarms.

In their letter to Mr Pouyanné, the lawmakers described the agreement with the Trump administration as “outrageous.” They continued, “The agreement with TotalEnergies is almost certainly unlawful.

“You told CNBC in an interview that TotalEnergies approached the federal government and requested reimbursement for its leases after President Trump paused permitting for offshore wind projects. But federal courts have blocked all five of the administration’s attempts to pause offshore wind leases, with the most recent decision noting that ‘every court’ has found irreparable harm from the delays. Rather than following the law and court orders and to permit these wind projects to move forward, the administration is now striking a backroom deal… using taxpayer money to cancel these projects.”

The lawmakers told Mr Pouyanné, “DOI has not explained the statutory authority under which it will reimburse TotalEnergies, the source of the funding, the authorities it is using to drive investment in other energy infrastructure, or how this arrangement complies with federal appropriations law. On the face of it, this agreement is an unprecedented use of taxpayer funds to pay a private company – your company – for voluntarily relinquishing legally obtained leases.

“Even more alarming, this deal may be just the beginning of a systematic effort to use public funds to dismantle the offshore wind programme, in contravention of Congressional mandate.” Reports indicate that the Trump administration is now approaching other companies with offshore leases to offer similar buyouts in exchange for fossil fuel investments.

The lawmakers said the opacity of the ‘settlement’ also appears to violate DOI’s own transparency requirements, promulgated by Secretary Burgum himself.

In June 2025, Secretary Burgum issued Secretarial Order 3433, Restoring and Modernizing Transparency and Accountability in Consent Decrees, Settlement Agreements, and Litigation Payments.’ Criticising ‘sue-and-settle’ tactics, “where legal settlements result in significant policy outcomes without public input,” the order requires DOI to make all settlements involving the Department “subject to public disclosure, intergovernmental notification, and internal policy review before execution.”

“But this is exactly the problem we have with this opaque and suspicious settlement,” the lawmakers told Mr Pouyanné, which “results in significant policy outcomes without public input.”

In their letter to the Secretary of the Interior and Acting Inspector General, the lawmakers said, “The federal Judgment Fund is used to settle lawsuits against the federal government in specific legal cases and controversies. There is no lawsuit being settled here. The Trump administration simply wants to make a billion-dollar payment out of the Judgment Fund to a foreign energy company to get them to walk away from leases they signed to develop offshore wind energy and to pledge not to develop any new offshore wind projects. Beyond being terrible public policy, this is a completely lawless and improper abuse of the Judgment Fund.”

The lawmakers said the deal “directly undercuts American energy security by ending offshore wind leases that would have provided reliable, affordable energy for American families” noting it will “tie domestic energy prices more closely to volatile global fossil fuel markets at a moment when prices are already reaching historic highs due to President Trump’s unjustified and illegal war on Iran.” They also raised red flags about what they described as “apparent corruption and misuse of taxpayer dollars.”

They continued, “There is no clear legal basis for this closed-door settlement, which allows the administration to subsidise its preferred energy sources. President Trump has been relentless in his attacks on affordable, clean energy. This backdoor deal to cancel these projects will undeniably have negative economic, environmental, and national security impacts for which this administration must answer.”

More information:https://www.rivieramm.com/news-content-hub/house-democrats-turn-on-totalenergies-after-outrageous-trump-deal-88409