Interior paid Duke Energy $129 million to terminate its Carolina Long Bay offshore wind lease
On June 29, 2026, the Department of the Interior announced a settlement agreement with Duke Energy under which Duke voluntarily terminated its offshore wind lease in the Carolina Long Bay area — 22 miles off southeastern North Carolina — in exchange for $129 million in federal compensation. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the deal advances President Trump's energy agenda, and Duke Energy said it would redirect the funds toward nuclear and natural gas generation. The agreement is the fourth offshore wind lease termination brokered by the Trump administration, bringing total federal wind lease buyout payments to more than $2.75 billion.
Part of: Offshore Wind Lease Buyouts
Actors
On June 29, 2026, the Department of the Interior announced a settlement agreement with Duke Energy under which the Charlotte-based utility voluntarily terminated its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management lease in the Carolina Long Bay area — approximately 22 miles off southeastern North Carolina near Bald Head Island — in exchange for $129 million in federal compensation. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced the deal as advancing President Trump's "Energy Dominance Agenda," and Duke Energy CEO Kodwo Ghartey-Tagoe said the funds would be redirected toward nuclear and natural gas generation and grid upgrades in the Carolinas.
The Carolina Long Bay settlement is the fourth offshore wind lease termination brokered by the Trump administration. Prior deals involved TotalEnergies (approximately $1 billion), Golden State Wind and Bluepoint Wind (approximately $900 million), and Invenergy ($765 million). Across all four agreements, the federal government has paid more than $2.75 billion in taxpayer funds to wind energy companies to abandon leases issued under authority granted by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and expanded through the Inflation Reduction Act's offshore wind provisions. Congress has not authorized a wind lease buyout program; each settlement is structured as an individual lease cancellation agreement funded through Interior's discretionary appropriations, implementing a de facto offshore wind moratorium through executive action rather than legislation.
Why we recorded this
Congress funds offshore wind through the Inflation Reduction Act and granted Interior authority over offshore leases to expand — not eliminate — renewable energy development. Paying private companies over $2.75 billion in taxpayer funds to terminate valid leases is executive action that countermands congressional energy policy without going through Congress. This archive records when executive agencies spend public money to reverse legislative direction on matters Congress has acted on.
Sources
- Interior Announces an Energy Agreement to Strengthen American Energy Security and Lower Costs in North Carolina — U.S. Department of the Interior primary accessed July 1, 2026
- Duke Energy takes nearly $130 million to kill its wind project — Coastal Review secondary accessed July 1, 2026
- Trump Administration Reaches Fourth Offshore Wind Lease Buyout Deal, Duke Energy Exits Carolina Long Bay Site — Offshore Wind Biz secondary accessed July 1, 2026
See also
- Burgum established U.S. Wildland Fire Service by secretarial order, overriding Congress's refusal to fund it
- Trump invokes Defense Production Act to direct ~$700M to the coal industry
- U.S. strike enforcing Iran oil blockade kills three Indian sailors aboard tanker off Oman
- U.S. resumes Iran strikes for a second straight day, defying House war-powers resolution
- Trump signed proclamation stripping commercial fishing bans from ~500,000 square miles of Pacific marine monuments