The Morning Sixpack stays free because the news that shapes your life should not be hidden behind a paywall. Paid subscribers are not paying for access. They are helping fund the research, writing, and independent voice that goes into every issue. Become a paid subscriber and help keep smart, honest news analysis free for everyone.
What hasn’t been previously reported is that the stake is being purchased from a private equity fund run by Australian billionaire Michael Dorrell, who owns a mansion on a private island near Mar-a-Lago and has boasted of socializing with President Donald Trump’s inner circle at the club. Dorrell personally gave $926,300 to the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee two weeks after Trump was elected for a second term in late 2024 and another $73,700 a few weeks later, according to federal filings. (The Australia native also has U.S. citizenship.) Sounds like he was trying to skirt a $1,000,000 donation red flag…
The Trump administration’s settlement with German energy giant RWE will send $1.2 billion from a federal fund toward conventional energy investments after the company gives up offshore wind leases in New York, California and Louisiana—and $900 million is slated for a transaction benefiting a private equity firm run by major Trump donor Michael Dorrell. RWE says it independently chose to buy a stake in the massive Louisiana LNG project from Dorrell’s Stonepeak.
That’s one hell of a coincidence with nine zeroes attached.
Dorrell, Stonepeak’s co-founder and CEO, gave a combined $1 million to the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee after the 2024 election and owns a mansion near Mar-a-Lago. The administration says nobody at the Interior Department directed RWE toward Stonepeak, while the White House called suggestions of a conflict of interest “a brazen attempt to insinuate a conflict-of-interest that does not exist.” Sure…?
Stonepeak likewise said Dorrell’s political contributions do not influence its business transactions.
Democrats aren’t buying the optics—or the underlying policy. Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said he will expand an existing investigation into the administration’s wind settlements to examine the Stonepeak connection.
“These fake ‘settlements’ were already an insane waste of taxpayer funds and a ridiculous charade that seems to be blatantly illegal,” Huffman said. “This now adds the stench of corruption.” Several states are also challenging the settlements in federal court, while Huffman is warning energy companies they could eventually be forced to return the money.
There’s another wrinkle: Woodside Energy, the LNG project’s majority owner, says the RWE-Stonepeak transaction doesn’t change the project’s ownership, governance, or development plans. Columbia University gas-markets scholar Ira Joseph put it more plainly: “In terms of the pure volume of gas or energy that will be created, this does not add anything.” In other words, $900 million in settlement-driven investment appears to help Stonepeak reduce its exposure without adding more gas production—a detail likely to make the congressional questions considerably louder.
Editor: Washington can spend years debating energy policy, but apparently it takes considerably less time to turn canceled wind leases into a $900 million exit ramp for a politically connected investor. The administration says there was no favoritism. Congress now gets the delightful job of following the money.
Source: The Washington Post (free)