New York Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Kathy Hochul are suing the Trump administration over a March agreement between the Interior Department and TotalEnergies that cancels the company’s New York Bight offshore wind lease and reimburses the company for the $795 million it paid in 2022.
Concerning the lawsuit, New York isn't alone. New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont are joining as well. From gCaptain Daily:
At the center of the dispute is Lease OCS-A 0538, a New York Bight lease awarded in 2022 for approximately $795 million. The area was slated to support Attentive Energy One, an offshore wind project expected to supply electricity directly to New York City, power more than 700,000 homes, and generate an estimated $25.6 billion in economic benefits over its lifetime. State officials said the project would have created roughly 1,700 jobs and reduced energy costs for New Yorkers by an estimated $10 billion.
The legal challenge marks the latest chapter in an escalating battle over offshore wind development after the Trump administration shifted tactics following a series of court defeats earlier this year.
Federal courts previously blocked efforts to suspend several offshore wind projects on national security grounds, including Empire Wind and Sunrise Wind. In response, the administration adopted a new strategy of negotiating financial settlements that encourage developers to relinquish offshore wind leases and redirect capital toward conventional energy projects.
The lawsuit claims Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and federal officials skipped required legal steps before ending the lease, while the administration says the agreement redirects money toward energy Americans can actually use when the wind takes an unscheduled day off.
The March agreement lets TotalEnergies abandon the Attentive Energy offshore wind project and stop future offshore wind development in the United States. In return, the company pledged roughly $1 billion toward American oil, gas, power production, and exports.
The Interior Department says the New York Bight lease, OCS-A 0538, was executed by Attentive Energy on May 1, 2022, after payment of $795 million. From the U.S. Department of Interior:
Additionally, in light of the national security concerns, TotalEnergies has pledged not to develop any new offshore wind projects in the United States.
“This agreement is yet another win for President Trump’s commitment to affordable and reliable energy for all Americans,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. “Offshore wind is one of the most expensive, unreliable, environmentally disruptive, and subsidy-dependent schemes ever forced on American ratepayers and taxpayers. We welcome TotalEnergies’ commitment to developing projects that produce dependable, affordable power to lower Americans' monthly bills while providing secure U.S. baseload power today—and in the future.”
“Today’s agreement prioritizes affordability for hardworking American consumers over the prior administration’s ideological, ineffective energy policies,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Americans will benefit from this significant investment in our energy industry, which will also enhance our national security and grid reliability.”
“TotalEnergies is pleased to sign this settlement agreements with the DOI and to support the Administration’s Energy Policy. 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 Furthermore, these agreements, under which we will reinvest the refunded lease fees to finance the construction of the 29 Mt Rio Grande LNG plant and the development of our oil and gas activities, allows us to support the development of U.S. gas production and export. These investments will contribute to supplying Europe with much-needed LNG from the U.S. and provide gas for U.S. data center development. We believe this is a more efficient use of capital in the United States,” said Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of TotalEnergies.
New York's complaint leans hard on the familiar sales pitch; the canceled project would supposedly have powered over 700,000 homes, created more than 1,700 jobs, produced $25.6 billion in lifetime economic benefits, and saved New Yorkers $10 billion in energy costs.
Those numbers sound terrific before ratepayers discover the fine print behind the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Wind power always arrives dressed as cheap, clean, and inevitable, then somehow needs subsidies, lawsuits, backup generation, transmission upgrades, expensive repairs, and excuses for calm weather.
The legal question begins in court; the practical question belongs at the kitchen table. Americans require electricity that works in January, in August, in storms, at night, and during every inconvenient moment when weather refuses to obey a climate model.
Offshore wind helps the grid in some places, but pretending it replaces dependable fuel turns energy policy into a magic trick and expects working families to applaud the empty hat.
The dying whale issue carries more political heat than scientific certainty, which is precisely why both sides should be careful. Along the Atlantic Coast, a troubling number of dead whales have washed ashore recently, and many people naturally connect those deaths to offshore wind surveys, construction noise, and increased vessel traffic.
NOAA Fisheries, however, says the unusual mortality event of the humpback whale began in 2016, before major offshore wind construction, and the agency hasn't found known links between large whale deaths and ongoing offshore wind activity. From NOAA Fisheries:
We work with our partners to analyze and understand the causes of death when we are able, following the science and data. At this point, there is no scientific evidence that noise resulting from offshore wind site characterization surveys could potentially cause whale deaths. There are no known links between large whale deaths and ongoing offshore wind activities.
We will continue to gather data to help us determine the cause of these whale deaths. We will also continue to explore how sound, vessel, and other human activities in the marine environment impact whales and other marine mammals.
Vessel strikes and fishing gear entanglements remain the leading documented human threats to large whales. Still, public concern shouldn't be brushed aside with a bureaucratic pat on the head.
When massive industrial projects move into whale habitats, Americans deserve aggressive monitoring, honest necropsies, transparent reporting, and rules tough enough to protect marine life rather than protect the green-energy narrative.
Opponents of wind power can't claim certainty where the evidence doesn't support certainty. Wind defenders shouldn't treat every concern as superstition. Industrial equipment placed in the ocean deserves hard scrutiny, not a halo.
Bird deaths bring the same problem. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says wind energy facilities kill birds and bats, with mortality varying by site and region. MIT's Climate Portal notes wind turbines kill far fewer birds than cats, buildings, vehicles, and several other hazards, but lower numbers don't erase the deaths.
Apparently, a dead bird becomes easier to overlook once it collides with politically approved machinery.
Trump's move will outrage the same crowd that treats every wind farm as a chapel with blades.
Good for them; let them make their case in court.
But the administration's broader point cleanly lands: America needs affordable, reliable energy, not fragile monuments to green ambition.
New York can sue, TotalEnergies can pivot, and activists can keep pretending the future runs on weather. The rest of the country still has refrigerators, factories, hospitals, and homes that need power when the breeze shows up for work.
Or not.
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