New York sues to block Trump deal cancelling offshore wind project

New York is trying to stop the Trump administration from paying TotalEnergies nearly $1 billion to cancel a wind project that state officials say was already advanced, already financed, and already central to New York’s clean-energy plans. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., argues that the Interior Department’s March deal is unlawful because it would send $795 million in taxpayer money to erase an offshore wind lease that TotalEnergies subsidiary Attentive Energy bought in 2022 for the same amount.

The case turns on the cost of unwinding a project after the money has already changed hands. New York says the lease, located about 47 to 50 miles off the coast of New York and New Jersey, was expected to deliver electricity directly to New York City, power more than 700,000 New York homes and bring more than 1,700 jobs to the state. Officials also say the project would have saved New Yorkers $10 billion in energy bills, making the cancellation not just a policy shift but a major financial hit for ratepayers and the state’s long-term energy planning.

Governor Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James are leading the fight, joined by Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont. The states argue that the federal government cannot lawfully use public money to buy out a project and then reward the developer for abandoning offshore wind altogether. Under the March agreement, the Interior Department agreed to cancel two offshore wind leases and pay TotalEnergies nearly $1 billion, while TotalEnergies pledged not to develop any new offshore wind projects in the United States and to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in oil and gas projects instead.

New York officials have framed the deal as a “pay-not-to-play” scheme and an abuse of taxpayer dollars. Doreen M. Harris, president and CEO of NYSERDA, said New York remains committed to offshore wind as part of the state’s energy portfolio, underscoring how much has been built into the state’s planning around projects like Attentive Energy.

The lawsuit also lands after a string of defeats for the administration’s offshore wind campaign. Trump halted federal approvals for wind projects on his first day in office last year, but a federal judge struck down that ban in December. The administration also tried earlier this year to stop construction on two New York offshore wind projects on national security grounds and lost in court. For investors and state planners, the new case raises a broader question: whether completed lease sales, once paid for and integrated into state power plans, can be undone at federal whim without undermining confidence in future clean-energy investment.