Regarding “Morro Bay Offshore Wind Project Dead in the Water,” Interior Secretary Burgum complains about taxpayer subsidies for wind energy projects, which would provide clean energy to millions of homes, along with cleaner air and other benefits. One therefore would think it might bother him to return a billion or so dollars from the Treasury to energy companies.
I also wonder if he knows that the Republican’s Big Beautiful Bill added substantial new federal subsidies for oil, gas, and coal over the next decade? The total tax dollars spent to subsidize fossil fuels in the U.S. are now almost $35 billion a year.
This is not in our best interest. A 2025 environmental impact analysis by the U.S Bureau of Ocean Energy Management shows that over its lifetime, one wind farm off Morro Bay could have a net savings of between $1.1 billion and $15 billion in social costs (the monetized costs of damages from greenhouse gas emissions) by replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy. Instead, the Trump administration’s deal would hand even more money to fossil fuel companies, which funded him heavily in the 2024 election, continuing to increase the risks to our health and safety and the environment.
Those subsidies would have been well spent.
