{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://ross.house.gov/2026/9/congresswoman-ross-calls-out-trump-administration-s-corrupt-offshore-wind-buyouts", "Congresswoman Ross Calls Out Trump Administration\u2019s Corrupt Offshore Wind Buyouts", "2026-09-17", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "NC", "Deborah K. Ross", "R000305", "ross.house.gov", "ross", "https://ross.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "Watch a recording of the press conference HERE.\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 Today, Congresswoman Ross joined fellow members of Congress, labor leaders, and environmental advocates in front of the Capitol to call out the Trump administration\u2019s continued attacks on offshore wind and demand accountability for billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded buyouts.\n\nRepresentatives Ross, (NC-02) Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Salud Carbajal (CA-24) and Senator Ed Markey (MA) spoke alongside Kendall Martin, General Vice President of Ironworkers International, and Bob Keefe, Executive Director of E2 | Economy+Environment, to highlight the lack of transparency around the administration\u2019s corrupt, taxpayer-funded offshore wind buyout deals.\n\nSince March, the Department of the Interior has canceled 12 offshore wind leases, including two in North Carolina. In doing so, the Trump administration has made unprecedented use of the Treasury Department\u2019s Judgment Fund to pay developers nearly $4 billion in taxpayer funds to walk away from their offshore wind leases. These cancellations jeopardize clean energy projects that would have delivered affordable, reliable energy to millions of Americans\u2013including over 300,000 North Carolina homes\u2013and created thousands of good-paying jobs.\n\n\u201cMy home state of North Carolina has been a long time leader in clean energy, including offshore wind,\" said Congresswoman Deborah Ross (NC-02). \u201cThe canceled projects would have created thousands of good-paying jobs and powered over 300,000 homes. This is happening when we are already experiencing record-high electricity prices across our state. [...] President Trump and the Department of Energy put their political agenda ahead of North Carolina's economic and energy needs. Families cannot afford to pay the price for that.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is so outrageous about these buyouts that are now totaling almost $4 billion of taxpayer money that\u2019s just been lit on fire is that we\u2019re going through a time when families are struggling,\" said Congressman Jared Huffman (CA-02). \u201cWe\u2019ve got this industry ready to make major investments in coastal communities that will not only create jobs but will provide cheap and reliable clean power that will bring electric rates down. This is exactly what we need at this time.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Trump administration is spending nearly $4 billion in taxpayer funds to cancel 12 offshore wind leases at the same time when Americans' utility bills are rising. Their priorities are completely out of whack,\" said Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (ME-01). \u201cAs Ranking Member of the Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, I take Congress\u2019s power of the purse seriously. Taxpayers deserve to know who authorized these buyouts, how they were valued, and why the Judgment Fund was used. We need transparency, accountability, and more affordable, reliable domestic energy\u2014not dirty deals that force taxpayers to pay for less of it.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe administration spent nearly $4 billion in taxpayer funds to illegally cancel promising offshore wind project leases across the country, including 2 of 3 in my district off of Morro Bay,\u201d said Congressman Salud Carbajal (CA-24). \u201cAs families face higher energy costs because of the president\u2019s disastrous war in Iran, these cancellations will just inflict more damage to our economy and family budgets\u2014not to mention the big waste of taxpayer funds. I won\u2019t let this extreme federal overreach go unchallenged, and I will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with all of my colleagues here and our communities affected by these cancelled leases to say yes to wind, no to dirty deals.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is happening here? It\u2019s just corruption on stilts. We need more affordable, made-in-America, union, ready-to-go power than ever before \u2013 and we need it to be clean, because climate change is getting worse and costing us millions and billions more every single year,\u201d said Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts. \u201cThis is Economics 101. We\u2019ve got a major supply and demand problem: Trump is killing our electricity supply at his donors\u2019 demand. Instead of solving the energy affordability crisis he has created, Trump is blocking offshore wind from the grid. He\u2019s taking union workers out of work by the tens of thousands. And to add insult to injury, he\u2019s spending your money to do it.\u201d\n\n\u201cOffshore wind is here, and it\u2019s working. It\u2019s saving ratepayers money, breaking our dependence on volatile foreign fuel markets, creating cleaner air, and putting thousands of American union members to work,\u201d said Kendall Martin, General Vice President of Ironworkers International. \u201cIt is common sense to keep building this necessary infrastructure at a time of increasing energy demand. Union workers in offshore wind are just trying to do our jobs, pay our bills, and build something that leaves the planet a little better for our kids and grandkids. I ask the Trump administration to stop these senseless attacks on American energy and let us get to work.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt makes no sense to waste billions in taxpayer dollars paying companies not to build new energy sources \u2013 especially at a time when electricity demand and prices are soaring,\u201d said Bob Keefe, Executive Director of E2 | Economy+Environment. \u201cAnd we\u2019re not just losing new made-in-America energy here. We\u2019re losing new jobs, new investments, new tax revenues and new opportunities in coastal communities that could use a break.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhile families face skyrocketing bills and worry about blackouts or power outages, offshore wind provides a cheaper, more reliable, and cleaner energy future for all of us,\u201d said Sierra Club Chief Program Officer Holly Bender. \u201cOffshore wind is here and ready to be deployed in the United States, but Donald Trump is hell-bent on creating obstacles that tip the scales in favor of fossil fuels. It is completely unacceptable that $4 billion of our taxpayer dollars have been wasted on paying off energy companies to cancel renewable energy projects and double down on fossil fuels. We are grateful for the support of our partners in Congress and together we will continue to fight for a healthier, more affordable, and cleaner future.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs if energy costs were not high enough, the Trump administration has spent almost four billion taxpayer dollars to keep our energy costs high by blocking affordable clean offshore wind energy,\u201d said David Shadburn, Legislative Director at the League of Conservation Voters. \u201cTrump is instead directing our tax dollars to new LNG export projects, shipping gas overseas and actually driving prices back home even higher, all while enriching Trump\u2019s fossil fuel donors. We stand with clean energy leaders in Congress who are fighting to hold this administration to account and lower costs for working families.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-18T09:27:43Z", "2026-09-18T09:29:09Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://ross.house.gov/2026/9/congresswoman-ross-calls-out-trump-administration-s-corrupt-offshore-wind-buyouts"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.339582959190011, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}