EXCLUSIVE: Biden Admin Streamlined Path For Offshore Wind Boondoggles Despite Internal Red Flags

The Biden administration granted major offshore wind projects financial breaks despite internal warnings of increased risks to taxpayers, according to documents obtained by the watchdog group Functional Government Initiative (FGI).

Denmark-based Ørsted’s massive “Revolution Wind” project off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut not only received final approval in August 2023 under the Biden administration but also an exception that allowed the company to postpone the funds for dismantling the project at the end of its life for 15 years, according to the documents. Despite internal warnings that this kind of exception “increases the risk to the federal taxpayer,” the Biden administration granted Revolution Wind and Vineyard Wind sweetheart breaks for their decommissioning costs that were estimated at $325 million and $191 million, respectively, according to the documents and FGI.

“With each revelation, two things become clearer: wind electricity wasn’t ready for primetime, and the Biden administration didn’t care. It was determined to force these projects through no matter the cost, the risks to taxpayers, or the dubious value to the people who pay for electricity and pay federal taxes,” FGI spokesman Roderick Law told the DCNF. “President Trump was right to halt projects and put them under careful review to ensure every environmental and safety impact is examined and that the taxpayers are at risk propping up failing, untested efforts.”

FOIA DOCS REDACTED by audreystreb

A May 2021 internal memo revealed the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) warned the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) that “delaying receipt of financial assurance increases the risk to the federal taxpayer” when BOEM was considering granting Vineyard Wind the 15-year decommissioning cost delay.

Federal rules typically require companies to pre-fund decommissioning to protect taxpayers if a project fails or reaches the end of its life. The Biden administration allowed Ørsted and other developers a special exception to delay those funds, despite offshore wind being relatively untested in the U.S., while cracking down on well-established energy resources like oil, gas and coal.

“While this is a BOEM decision, BSEE has significant concerns with granting a departure to current regulations that require financial assurance before installation of any facilities,” the memo states. “The primary risk are as follows: delaying receipt of financial assurance increases the risk to the federal taxpayer as identified by Government Accountability Office (GAO), the longer financial assurance is deferred, the greater the chance that the government will not collect [and] decommissioning funds may need to be accessed prior to the expected end of project life due to unforeseen events.”

The documents show that Ørsted requested the 15-year deferral of the customary financial assurance for decommissioning Revolution Wind in November 2023 and subsequently received approval for it in March 2024. Notably, a Reagan-appointed federal judge allowed Revolution Wind to continue in a ruling on Sept. 22 after the Department of the Interior (DOI) issued a work-stop order in August 2025.

“Revolution Wind, LLC is in compliance with BOEM financial assurance requirements for the project, including with respect to decommissioning,” an Ørsted spokesperson told the DCNF. “Revolution Wind is 80% complete, remains under construction, and will power more than 350,000 American homes upon its completion.”

While the Biden administration aggressively promoted offshore wind development, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that temporarily blocked virtually all federal waters from new wind leasing on his first day back in office, pending a review. The Trump administration has branded offshore wind farms as “costly failures” and moved to block several projects, with Trump himself repeatedly lambasting wind energy.

The DOI halted all “preferential treatment” on July 17 for wind and solar projects that it considered to be “unreliable,” “subsidy-dependent” and “foreign-controlled.”

FGI previously discovered Vineyard Wind, the project that shed debris off the coast of Nantucket after a defective turbine broke, received a similar exception from the Biden administration in 2021.

“This was essentially a $191 million gamble with our money,” Roderick said at the time of the first discovered decommission cost delay exception. “It’s not often you can put a price on recklessness, but BOEM under its previous leadership was in such a rush to get the risky project underway that it left American taxpayers unprotected.”

FGI argues that the failure of these projects granted exemptions by the Biden administration were not implausible, as Revolution Wind was reportedly a year behind schedule before Trump called for the wind farm reviews.

BOEM adapted its “renewable energy modernization” rules in May 2024, allowing wind companies a more flexible framework to cover decommissioning costs. In some cases, wind companies can avoid paying these costs upfront by proving their financial strength through other means, including power purchase agreements. Notably, multiple other power purchase agreements for offshore wind have been scrapped in recent years, including projects involving Ørsted, after utilities backed out citing financial concerns with contract costs.

Additionally, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) previously confirmed to the DCNF that the Biden administration did not adequately review the environmental impacts of some offshore wind projects before approval. Additionally, some fishermen and environmentalists have protested and criticized offshore wind as they believe wind farms pose dangers to and disturb marine life.