For someone who regularly hates on clean power, US President Donald Trump has practically turned somersaults in an effort to support the domestic geothermal industry. Why not support other clean power resources that are more advanced, like wind or solar? Who knows! In the latest demonstration that Trump is ga-ga for geothermal, some of the spoils from his offshore wind lease buyout (some say illegal bribery) program will help steer investor dollars to the US geothermal industry. No, really. Seriously. It’s An Emergency! Quick, Call The Geothermal Industry! When Trump nominated former Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright to head the US Department of Energy, policy watchers (raises hand) anticipated that the US geothermal industry would be showered with attention despite Trump’s fossil-friendly campaign platform. After all, what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, and Liberty is among the leading oilfield services firms eyeing the next-generation geothermal industry as a new market for their special skills. Sure enough, it’s been hearts and roses over geothermal ever since Trump took office last year, even though next-generation technology is still in the early stages of development. Last week, for example, the Energy Department launched a new Geothermal Center of Excellence, joining the nation’s national laboratory network in a collaborative effort to support next-generation geothermal systems. On September 21, DOE also added another $99 million to its funding program for geothermal testing and exploration. That doesn’t seem to be a particularly effective way of addressing an urgent national energy emergency, which Trump vociferously declared upon taking office last year. Everybody knows that the domestic wind and solar industries are far more advanced in terms of availability, accessibility, and widespread commercial application. In fact, when Trump took office the US geothermal energy industry accounted for a measly 1% or so of utility-scale power generation. That’s not a typo. One percent, and the needle has barely moved since then. Geothermal Wins, Wind Loses To be clear, geothermal energy can — eventually — become a significant contributor to a decarbonized US. Historically, the geothermal industry has relied on optimal, naturally occurring combinations of heat, rock, and water to generate steam for power generation. Those are few and far between, mainly situated in a few scattered areas west of the Rocky Mountains. New exploration and recovery technologies, including drilling methods borrowed from the oil and gas industry, are finally beginning to expand the horizons of the domestic geothermal industry, but widespread market penetration is years in the future (see more next-gen geothermal background here). For the here and now, states on the the Atlantic and Pacific coasts need more kilowatts STAT, and they have been eagerly eyeballing offshore wind to secure an economical, reliable source of kilowatts that can satisfy their economic development needs. Despite Trump’s vigorous efforts to halt construction on projects already under construction, five offshore wind farms on the Atlantic coast have already managed to escape the chopper. Other Atlantic coast projects have also won court orders to proceed with their planning stages after the Trump administration imposed specious delays. With those failures in mind, the offshore lease buyouts are Trump’s only hope of leaving office with a victory in hand. Earlier this year, the US Department of the Interior began handing out billions in taxpayer dollars to buy back leases from offshore wind lease holders before they move forward with their development plans, with the dollars coming from a fund administered by the Department of Justice. As part of the deal, the former lease holders are required to invest in fossil energy projects, or at least that was the reporting earlier this year. As it turns out, some of those dollars are also to be invested in geothermal energy. No Fair! The geothermal energy is a particular poke in the eye to the Northeastern coastal states that have been laying offshore wind plans since the early 2000’s. With little or no realistic potential for producing coal, oil, or gas in-state, Trump’s offshore wind buyout scheme forces these states to continue relying on out-of-state resources. Over the summer, coastal states launched lawsuits to restore the leases. While those court actions have been percolating, a fresh round was fired off this week by California. New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont also filed two lawsuits in a joint action. The California lawsuit is particularly interesting because state has already established itself as geothermal energy leader under the old-school method. All else being equal, California could offset its offshore wind losses with new, next-generation geothermal projects. Or not, as the case may be. According to the office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Trump’s lease buyout plan will benefit other states, not California, with new geothermal projects. “The buyout…requires the company to cause its corporate affiliates to invest the same amount in out-of-state fossil fuel or geothermal projects that will do nothing to support California’s energy economy,” Bonta’s office explains. More to the point, Bonta notes that California has already invested more than $100 million of its own dollars in seaport upgrades and other infrastructure towards the realization of a 25-gigawatt plan for offshore wind, anticipating a significant economic development pathway involving more than 174,750 jobs. Without access to federal offshore leases, all those dreams and dollars go down the drain. We’ll Always Have Geothermal…Not… Of course, power plants are not the only place for geothermal energy to find a home. Ground source heat pumps, for example, are already in widespread use across the US, and their numbers are growing alongside technology improvements. Still, that’s little consolation for space-constrained states like New Jersey, where offshore wind offers a rare opportunity to grow an in-state power generation profile. New Jersey is another particularly interesting state to watch as the latest round of lawsuits wind their way through court. Opportunity or not, offshore wind is a toxic political issue in New Jersey, with years of pushback from coastal communities juiced by inputs from fossil energy affiliates. During the 2025 election cycle, the political minefield around offshore wind was so hazardous that New Jersey’s current Governor, Mikie Sherrill ran her successful campaign on a renewable energy platform, while keeping the offshore wind issue at arm’s length. Nevertheless, now that Sherrill is in office, on September 22 New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport joined with New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont to announce two lawsuits seeking restoration of wind leases that the Trump administration bought back earlier this year. Although Davenport does not mention geothermal energy in her announcement, that angle pops up in New York. On September 22, Governor Kathy Hochul and State Attorney Letitia James announced their participation in the joint lawsuits. They noted that the firm Invenergy, which received $653 million to walk away from its offshore lease in the New York Bight, will apply the money to geothermal projects in the western US and as well as natural gas plants in Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri, “none of which will deliver a single watt of power to New York.” Game on… Photo: US President Donald Trump is transferring billions in allegedly illegal offshore wind payoffs to fossil fuel and geothermal energy projects (cropped, courtesy of US Department of Energy via CleanTechnica archives).
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