紐時賞析／川普砸10億美元 棄風電轉化石燃料

U.S. Will Pay $1 Billion To Cancel Wind Farms

川普砸10億美元 棄風電轉化石燃料

The Trump administration will pay French energy giant TotalEnergies nearly $1 billion to abandon its plans to build wind farms off the East Coast, the Interior Department said Monday at an energy conference in Houston.

美國川普政府將支付法國能源巨擘道達爾能源近10億美元，要求其放棄在美國東岸外海興建風電場的計畫。內政部周一在休士頓一場能源會議上宣布此事。

Under the unusual deal, TotalEnergies would forfeit its leases in federal waters for two wind farms, which would have been built off New York and North Carolina. The Justice Department would then reimburse TotalEnergies $928 million, the amount it paid for the leases during the Biden administration.

根據這項罕見協議，道達爾能源將放棄位於聯邦海域的2項風電場租約，其原本計畫設於紐約與北卡羅來納外海。美國司法部將補償9.28億美元，正是該公司在拜登政府時期支付的租金。

In exchange, TotalEnergies would invest that money in oil and gas projects in the United States, including a facility in Texas that would export liquefied natural gas to global markets. The company would also commit to producing more oil in the Gulf of Mexico and said it was developing some additional gas-burning power plants to meet rising electricity demand from data centers.

作為交換，道達爾能源將把這筆資金投入美國的石油與天然氣開發，包括在德州興建液化天然氣出口設施。公司也承諾增加墨西哥灣的原油產量，並表示正開發更多燃氣發電廠，以因應資料中心帶動的電力需求成長。

The deal is an extraordinary transfer of taxpayer dollars to a foreign company for the purposes of boosting the production of fossil fuels, a main driver of climate change, while throttling offshore wind power. It comes as the war in the Middle East has shocked global oil markets, prompting concerns about energy supplies.

這項協議是將納稅人資金異常轉移給外國公司，用來增加化石燃料產量，化石燃料是氣候變遷的主因，同時抑制離岸風力發電。此舉正值中東戰事衝擊全球油市，引發對能源供應的疑慮。

The New York Times first reported last week that the administration was considering the agreement. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum unveiled the deal Monday at CERAWeek by S&P Global, an annual energy conference in Houston, where he claimed that wind power was ineffective.

「紐約時報」上周率先報導，川普政府正考慮這項協議。內政部長柏根周一在休士頓舉行的CERAWeek能源會議上正式公布，並宣稱風力發電效益不彰。

“The era of taxpayers subsidizing unreliable, unaffordable and unsecure energy is officially over, and the era of affordable, reliable and secure energy is here to stay,” Burgum said.

柏根表示：「納稅人補貼不可靠、不經濟且不安全能源的時代正式結束，取而代之的是可負擔、穩定且安全的能源時代。」

Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of TotalEnergies, called the agreement a “pragmatic” business decision.

道達爾能源執行長官潘彦磊形容，這項協議是「務實」的商業決策。

“When the Trump administration came to power and began setting U.S. energy policy, we said that we’ll have to reconsider, clearly, these offshore wind project developments,” Pouyanné said. He said that since winning the leases, the company had concluded that offshore wind was “not the most affordable way to produce electricity” and would require federal subsidies that are now being phased out by the Trump administration.

潘彦磊表示：「當川普上台並開始制定美國能源政策時，我們就認為必須重新評估這些離岸風電計畫。」他指出，公司在取得租約後認定，離岸風電「並不是最具成本效益的發電方式」，而且需要聯邦補貼，但這些補貼正逐步被川普政府取消。

“To be clear, we don’t renounce onshore wind,” Pouyanné added. “We continue to invest in onshore solar, onshore wind, batteries.” But in the United States, he said, “offshore wind is too expensive from our point of view.”

他補充說：「明確來說，我們並未放棄陸上風電。我們繼續投資陸上太陽能、陸上風力和電池。」但他說，在美國，「從我們的觀點來看，離岸風電太貴了」。

文／Maxine Joselow and Brad Plumer，譯／國際中心