Seven blue – Seven Democratic-led states sued the Trump administration after it paid French energy giant TotalEnergies nearly $1 billion in taxpayer money to cancel offshore wind plans. The lawsuit argues the March deal violated federal law, depriving the states of needed
The money hit in March, the projects were canceled soon after, and now seven Democratic-led states are taking the Trump administration to court.
On Tuesday. the coalition of blue states filed a lawsuit challenging a deal under which the administration paid French energy company TotalEnergies nearly $1 billion to not build offshore wind farms. The complaint argues the agreement violated federal law. deprived states of needed electricity supply. and could raise electricity costs across the New England and mid-Atlantic regions.
The case is led by New York attorney general Letitia James, who says the arrangement is not what it claims to be.
In March. the Trump administration announced it would pay TotalEnergies $928 million in taxpayer funds to reimburse the company for leases it had purchased under the Biden administration. The deals were tied to developing two offshore wind farms in waters near New York and North Carolina—money that was largely directed toward the New York project.
Of the $928 million, $795 million was set aside for developing the New York project. In return. the company said it would put the reimbursed money toward the development of a new liquified natural gas plant in Texas to help export US LNG overseas to Europe. with TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné saying so in a statement at the time.
Attorney generals argue that swap—public funds to cancel clean-energy projects and a company pivot toward gas exports—does harm on multiple fronts.
James called the March announcement an “illegal agreement” and said the administration cooked up what she described as a sham to pay a foreign energy company “hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars” to abandon offshore wind and instead invest in oil and gas.
The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, targets the March agreement specifically. The attorneys general are asking the court to strike down the agreement and vacate the lease cancellation.
In their filing. New York. New Jersey. Connecticut. Maine. Vermont. Massachusetts. and Rhode Island contend the administration violated federal law when executing the deal. The states argue the government failed to hold a hearing required by law to determine that keeping the offshore wind leases “would likely cause serious harm to life. property. national security. or the environment.”.
The states also argue the deal violated the Judgment Fund Act. Their position is that the payment was not a payment in settlement of an “imminent lawsuit,” but instead a “contrived arrangement” designed to satisfy what they describe as the president’s personal opposition to wind energy.
The administration’s legal opponents say this is not simply a business decision. They frame it as a strategy that flips the usual script—rather than blocking offshore wind after development advances or in court, the government pays to stop it before it begins.
Offshore wind energy is personally reviled by President Donald Trump. and his administration has repeatedly raised roadblocks for offshore wind projects at different stages. according to the suit’s framing in the complaint and coverage around the policy. The March announcement is described as the first sign of what the states see as a new approach: paying to stop wind farms before they begin.
There was also an earlier related effort. In April, the administration announced it would spend another nearly $900 million to repay two more wind energy developers to not build projects in New York and California—but the April deal is not part of the lawsuit filed Tuesday.
Federal officials have responded in different ways. A spokesperson for the US Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for the Interior Department. however. called the agreements “voluntary” and said “no one was forced to sign them.” In a statement. the Interior spokesperson added that “these settlements were reviewed and approved by the Department of Justice. underscoring that they went through the appropriate channels. ” and said. “The only thing blatantly unlawful here was the process by which these offshore wind leases were negotiated and imposed under the Biden administration.”.
For the states involved, the question is whether the courts will stop the government from paying to cancel clean-energy commitments.
Massachusetts attorney general Andrea Campbell said in a statement that President Trump’s opposition to offshore wind has been clear for years and that the action reflects a continued effort to undermine clean energy development in favor of fossil fuel interests.
offshore wind TotalEnergies Letitia James Trump administration lawsuit Judgment Fund Act offshore wind leases New York attorney general liquified natural gas LNG exports