Trump administration faces lawsuit over $1 billion offshore wind settlement

New York and six other US states have sued the Trump administration over a controversial agreement to cancel a major offshore wind project off the East Coast.

The lawsuit challenges a March deal under which French energy company TotalEnergies would receive $1 billion after agreeing to abandon offshore wind leases off New York and North Carolina and instead invest in fossil fuel projects.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement: “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.”

The legal complaint, filed in the District Court for the District of Columbia, argues the lease cancellation was carried out unlawfully and without proper procedures.

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont joined the case.

The states say the move threatens clean energy goals, power supply and thousands of jobs linked to offshore wind development.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul accused President Donald Trump of showing “overt and never-ending hostility toward offshore wind.”

The Interior Department defended the agreement, saying the leases were voluntary buybacks and had been approved by the Justice Department.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the company was simply refunded money it had already invested in US energy projects.

The cancelled New York project had been expected to power nearly one million homes.