Trump got a letter from a Michigan township; RWE got $1.22 billion

A township asks Trump to overrule Michigan's law

On 24 September, Zeeland Township Supervisor Kerri Bosma signed letters to President Trump and his cabinet↗, asking them to intervene against the 1,914-acre Silver Maple Solar project and come see the Ottawa County farmland ¹²³. The letter cites "long-term negative impacts on farming, community character, local infrastructure and food production" ³.

State Senator Roger Victory, who grew up farming the land inside the footprint, stood beside her with county commissioners Joe Moss and Jacob Bonnema and a township trustee ¹². Outside entities, Victory said, are "ripping the souls out of our communities" ¹.

RWE does not need the township's yes

Silver Maple Solar is a $300 million, 200-megawatt project across Zeeland and Jamestown townships ¹³⁴, billed by RWE as enough power for 34,000 homes ⁴⁵. Michigan's Public Act 233 lets the state Public Service Commission approve large renewable projects over local objection, and RWE refiled its application there on 18 September ¹³⁴.

The township sued RWE in July to strike the law down, calling the state permitting route an unconstitutional bypass of local consent; RWE moved the case to federal court and has now asked a judge to dismiss it ¹³⁴.

The referee already paid RWE

The complication: the government Bosma petitioned is also RWE's richest American counterparty. On 6 August the Interior Department agreed to pay RWE $1.22 billion to surrender offshore wind leases↗ off New York, California and Louisiana, the fifth and largest buyout of its kind this year ⁶⁷. RWE had paid $1.1 billion for the New York lease at a 2022 auction ⁶.

The settlement commits RWE to $900 million for a 16 percent stake in a Louisiana LNG terminal the proceeds will help build, plus $300 million in turbine reservations for 15 gas peaker plants ⁶.

Oracle's AI power comes from 2008 turbines

RWE's AI buyers get old hardware: the 433 megawatts sold to Oracle is a virtual contract settled in cash↗, not a dedicated power line, written against Panther Creek I to III, West Texas wind farms first commissioned around 2008 and 2009 and since repowered ⁸.

The deal sits inside Oracle's more than 1.7 gigawatts across ten Texas projects, built for campuses like Abilene ⁸. The Inference traced this fight on 27 September in "RWE feeds Oracle's AI data centers while suing a Michigan farm family for 30% of its solar site."

The $1.22 billion is already in court

California's attorney general put Washington and RWE U.S. Offshore on notice of suit on 2 September↗, arguing the payout compensates RWE "well in excess of the statutory formula" ⁹. On 22 September, New York led states suing to void two other buyouts, worth roughly $1.4 billion, as an unlawful use of the federal Judgment Fund ¹⁰.

RWE's answers skip the money question

RWE says there was "no path forward to permit these projects in the US for the foreseeable future" ⁶, and that it "remains committed to Silver Maple Solar" ⁴. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum welcomed the redirection as "dependable baseload power" ⁶. Neither answer touches the states' spending claims.

RWE has other plans: a Masdar memorandum worth an indicative EUR 3 billion-plus for German offshore wind auctions in 2027, and an ADNOC letter of intent on LNG ¹¹. Holders pricing a US renewables-for-AI growth story three dockets could reprice carry the risk; through 30 September the market showed no such worry, EUR 59.27 after hours, 0.07 percent under the prior close, which reads as noise ¹¹.

Three dockets decide it

Three dockets now decide it: the state commission on Silver Maple ¹⁴, the federal judge on the township's suit ³⁴, and the state challenges to the buyouts ⁹¹⁰. Watch the remand fight as well: Bosma wants her suit back in Ottawa County court, where the township filed it ¹⁴⁵. She is still waiting on the White House ⁵. Washington answered RWE in August, with $1.22 billion ⁶⁷.