It’s the third such deal the Interior Department has struck to pay firms to abandon plans for offshore turbines, spending roughly $2.5 billion to get companies to abandon their wind projects.

It’s the third such deal the Interior Department has struck to pay firms to abandon plans for offshore turbines, spending roughly $2.5 billion to get companies to abandon their wind projects.

© Joshua A. Bickel/Associated Press

A prolonged drought means the nation’s largest reservoirs are dwindling, and litigation over access to water could lie ahead.

A prolonged drought means the nation’s largest reservoirs are dwindling, and litigation over access to water could lie ahead.

© Nina Riggio for The New York Times