The federal government is drafting unprecedented settlement agreements to buy out offshore wind developers and cancel major coastal leases.

Proposed deals would pay developers $928 million, directly reimbursing them for their winning bids in exchange for abandoning the projects.

The leases cover the Attentive Energy and Carolina Long Bay sites, originally designed to generate enough electricity to power 1.3 million homes.

To receive the payouts, developers must commit to accelerating investments in natural gas plants and production sites in Texas.

This buyout approach follows five recent federal court rulings that blocked the administration's attempts to halt wind farms already under construction.

Paying developers not to build renewables is an unprecedented federal move, actively disrupting the long-term planning of the US power system.

The administration justifies the fossil fuel mandate by citing a declared national energy emergency, fueled by global supply concerns.

Despite federal pushback, advanced projects like Revolution Wind and Vineyard Wind recently completed construction and are delivering power to New England.

Using federal payouts to cancel existing leases injects massive instability into the ecological economics of funding future sustainable infrastructure.