Governor Hochul, New York Attorney General James claim Trump administration cancelation of offshore wind energy lease to be unlawful

ALBANY, NY- Governor Hochul and New York Attorney General Letitia James have announced that New York is leading a coalition of six other attorneys general in suing the Trump administration over what has been dubbed as an unlawful cancellation of a major offshore wind energy lease off the coast of New York.

“This pay-not-to-play scheme pressuring a foreign company to forego planned offshore wind projects in America in favor of gas and oil drilling is an outrageous abuse of taxpayer dollars that hurts our ability to meet our energy needs, create good jobs, and help secure American energy independence while reducing emissions,” Governor Hochul said.

“Attorney General James and I will continue to aggressively fight back against Donald Trump's overt and never-ending hostility toward offshore wind, including his unlawful use of the most powerful office in the world to get private companies like TotalEnergies to bow to his will.”

“The Trump administration is once again trying to kill clean energy projects and destroy good-paying jobs for New Yorkers," said New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"After repeatedly losing in court, 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. We are fighting back to stop this illegal agreement that threatens to erase over a thousand union jobs and cheat millions of New Yorkers out of clean, affordable energy.”

The lawsuit reportedly argues how a deal struck earlier this year between TotalEnergies and the Trump Administration deprived seven states (the ones mustering up this lawsuit) from needed power.

The lawsuit also points out how the move could result in further energy rate hikes throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic States.

Under the Biden administration, TotalEnergies purchased leases allowing them to develop two off-shore wind farms in waters near New York and New England.

$795 million of that funding, which in total nearly reaches $1 billion, would have gone toward the New York project. However in March, the Trump administration declared they would be reimbursing the French energy company and instead having that same money help develop a new liquefied gas plant in Texas.

According to the Governor’s office, the wind project was expected to deliver clean energy directly to New York City, power more than 700,000 New York homes, and generate billions of dollars in benefits for New Yorkers.

Attorney General James and the coalition argue that the deal is "blatantly unlawful" and are asking the court to strike it down.

In a separate report from CNN, an interior spokesperson for the U.S. Justice Department, who was not named, claimed the process for the off shore wind leases were unlawfully negotiated and imposed under the Biden administration.

Image via the office of New York Governor Kathy Hochul.