Seven Northeast states sued the Trump administration to stop its deal to pay offshore wind developer TotalEnergy nearly $1 billion to cancel two projects and get the company’s commitment to walk away from any offshore wind development in the U.S.
The planned Attentive Energy project about 47 miles offshore in the New York Bight could have powered up to 1.3 million homes in New York and New Jersey if developed, according to the lawsuit led by New York State officials.
Faced with the Trump administration’s unrelenting hostility to renewable energy projects, France-based TotalEnergy opted to accept a proposal in March to give up its wind leases worth $795 million for future commitment to invest more in U.S. oil, gas and LNG projects.
“Considering that the development of offshore wind projects is not in the country’s interest, we have decided to renounce offshore wind development in the United States, in exchange for the reimbursement of the lease fees,” said Pouyanné.
Northeast states including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont had long been in the forefront of developing wind power projects – both during the Biden administration and Trump’s first presidential term, before the current administration’s 180-degree turn against it.
“This pay-not-to-play scheme pressuring a foreign company to forego planned offshore wind projects in America in favor of gas and oil drilling is an outrageous abuse of taxpayer dollars that hurts our ability to meet our energy needs, create good jobs, and help secure American energy independence while reducing emissions,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said June 2 in announcing the lawsuit filed in federal court.
The states’ lawsuit is the latest salvo in the courtroom battles over the Trump administration’s attempts to cancel previously permitted projects. Five projects off the East Coast have survived. With TotalEnergy, the administration shifted gears toward trying to buy out other lease holders with farther to go before they can start construction.
Wind power advocates who hoped for a big pushback applauded the states’ court action.
“For more than a year, offshore wind has faced an unprecedented and unrelenting campaign of political interference despite billions in private investment, state commitments, and court rulings,” said Liz Burdock, executive director and CEO of the wind power advocacy Oceantic Network. “These continued attacks on offshore wind are not just an assault on a single industry—they are an attack on American workers, energy affordability, national security, and the states' right to shape their own energy future.”
Escalating electricity prices for homeowners are giving those advocates an opening to argue for an eventual renewal of wind power.
“Offshore wind remains one of New Jersey’s greatest energy affordability and climate solutions, with the potential to generate large-load clean energy to offset increased demand coming from the build-out of data centers,” said Anjuli Ramos-Busot, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, after that state joined the lawsuit.
