New York Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Kathy Hochul, joined by six other states, filed suit Tuesday to overturn the Trump administration's March agreement with TotalEnergies. The deal canceled the company's New York Bight offshore wind lease and provided a $795 million federal reimbursement tied to new investments in U.S. oil, gas, and LNG projects.
At the center of the case is Lease OCS A 0538, awarded in 2022 for roughly $795 million to support the Attentive Energy One project. State officials said the project would have powered more than 700,000 New York City homes, generated an estimated $25.6 billion in economic benefits over its lifetime, created about 1,700 jobs, and reduced energy costs by roughly $10 billion.
The lawsuit is the latest move in a widening fight over offshore wind. After federal courts blocked earlier efforts to suspend Empire Wind and Sunrise Wind on national security grounds, the administration shifted to negotiating financial settlements that encourage developers to walk away from leases and redirect capital into conventional energy. Under the March deal, TotalEnergies abandoned both its New York Bight and Carolina Long Bay leases and exited future U.S. offshore wind, with the recovered value flowing into LNG and upstream projects including Rio Grande LNG.
The states argue the Interior Department failed to hold required hearings or make the legally required findings that continued operation of the lease would seriously harm national security, property, life, or the environment. They also challenge the use of the federal Judgment Fund, calling the payment a mechanism to advance the administration's opposition to offshore wind rather than a settlement of legitimate litigation.
Since the TotalEnergies deal, similar buyouts involving Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind have pushed the total offshore wind capital redirected toward LNG and conventional energy past $1.8 billion. For the maritime industry, the outcome will shape the pipeline of U.S. offshore wind construction vessels, port investments, Jones Act feeder operations, and the East Coast supply chain that has been built around the sector.