Seven U.S. States Sue Over TotalEnergies Offshore Wind Deal

Seven U.S. states, led by New York, have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration and French energy company TotalEnergies over the cancellation of a major offshore wind lease off New York, describing the agreement as “illegal” and “harmful to climate goals”.

The legal challenge targets a decision by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Under the agreement, TotalEnergies agreed to give up the offshore wind lease, receive $795 million in reimbursement for lease payments, halt future offshore wind development in the U.S. and redirect the funds toward fossil fuel projects.

TotalEnergies also received reimbursement linked to the Carolina Long Bay project. As part of the arrangement, the company agreed to reinvest $928 million in a Texas LNG facility and further oil and gas drilling.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum defended the agreement, saying TotalEnergies was merely receiving its own money back. “They essentially gave the US government an interest-free loan, and their money was refunded to them,” he said.

According to the complaint, the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and New York argue that the administration failed to follow required procedures and improperly used government funds intended for legal settlements. A spokesperson for the Interior Department said the deal was voluntary and followed appropriate procedural channels.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, names several administration officials as defendants, including Burgum. The states are asking a federal judge to overturn both the lease cancellation and the settlement agreement.

“The only thing blatantly unlawful here was the process by which these offshore wind leases were negotiated and imposed by the Biden administration,” she stated.

The canceled Attentive Energy project was intended to supply clean power to New York and New Jersey, producing enough electricity for 1.3 million homes. Both states had included offshore wind in their plans to meet rising power demand and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

“This administration cooked up a sham deal to pay a foreign energy company hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to abandon offshore wind and invest in oil and gas instead. We are fighting back to stop this illegal agreement that threatens to erase over a thousand union jobs and cheat millions of New Yorkers out of clean, affordable energy,” said New York attorney general Letitia James.

New York governor Kathy Hochul said she and James would continue to push back strongly against President Donald Trump’s “overt and never-ending hostility toward offshore wind.”

“President Trump has made his opposition to offshore wind clear for years, and this action reflects a continued effort to undermine clean energy development in favour of fossil fuel interests,” added Massachusetts attorney general Andrea Campbell.