Offshore Wind Lawsuit
Seven States Sue Trump Administration to Overturn Nearly $1 Billion Offshore Wind Deal
New York Attorney General Letitia James and six other Democratic-led states sued the Trump administration in federal court on Tuesday to overturn the government’s March decision to cancel an offshore wind lease, calling it an unlawful “sham deal.” The deal would pay French energy firm TotalEnergies about $928 million (nearly $1 billion) to abandon planned wind farms off New York and North Carolina and instead invest in oil and gas, with New York’s lease cancellation driving most of the payout. The states argue the Interior Department violated federal law governing lease cancellations under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and made improper use of funds under the Judgment Fund Act. They are asking a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to vacate the lease cancellation and settlement with TotalEnergies’ subsidiary and halt related actions. James and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the move threatens state economies, energy grid reliability, climate goals, and more than a thousand union jobs. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum defended the deal earlier during congressional testimony, and the Interior Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Key Points
As part of the March settlement, TotalEnergies agreed to terminate the planned projects and “pledged not to develop any new offshore wind projects in the United States,” while investing “hundreds of millions of dollars” in oil and gas.
The lawsuit describes the deal as following a string of court defeats: “federal judges repeatedly struck down the president’s executive orders and stop-work directives” intended to halt offshore wind development, describing those rulings as “unlawful and arbitrary.”
The plaintiffs are New York plus AGs from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont challenging the lease cancellation in federal court.
The complaint seeks to vacate not just the lease cancellation but also the settlement with TotalEnergies’ subsidiary “Attentive Energy,” according to reporting on the filing.
Reporting on the dispute also highlights President Trump’s stated stance on wind power, including his goal “to not let any ‘windmills’ be built,” which Hochul and James cited as part of the broader hostility toward offshore wind.
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