New York is leading a coalition of seven Democratic-led states in a lawsuit against the Trump administration concerning the cancellation of an offshore wind farm lease. Governor Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James announced the lawsuit on Tuesday, which challenges the administration's decision to cancel the lease for the Attentive Energy project off the coast of New York.
The Trump administration terminated the project in March after agreeing to pay French energy company TotalEnergies $928 million to withdraw from the lease. The Democratic coalition claims that this payment constitutes an illegal payoff, while the administration defends the deal as a reimbursement for TotalEnergies' expenses related to the lease and another federal water lease in North Carolina.
The New York project was expected to generate enough energy to power over 1 million homes and businesses by the early 2030s. As part of the agreement, TotalEnergies also committed to not developing any new offshore wind projects in the U.S. and to invest in fossil fuel projects instead.
The lawsuit argues that the deal violates the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which requires the Interior Department to hold a hearing before canceling a lease if it could cause significant harm to life, property, national security, or the environment. Hochul criticized the deal as an abuse of taxpayer dollars that undermines energy independence and job creation. The other states involved in the lawsuit include Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
The Trump administration had previously announced a similar deal to cancel two offshore wind projects off the coasts of California, New York, and New Jersey in April.