{"id":354379,"date":"2026-09-23T07:14:33","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T07:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/354379\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T07:14:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T07:14:33","slug":"multistate-lawsuit-aims-to-block-trump-deals-canceling-offshore-wind-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/354379\/","title":{"rendered":"Multistate lawsuit aims to block Trump deals canceling offshore wind projects"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Democratic attorneys general from California and New York sued the Trump administration Tuesday over its plans to buy back offshore wind leases as President Donald Trump seeks to discourage the expansion of wind energy<\/a> in favor of fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said he is suing over removal of a project off his state\u2019s coast planned by Chicago-based Invenergy. The Trump administration said in June<\/a> that it\u2019s buying back the company\u2019s U.S. offshore wind leases for four wind projects on the East and West coasts.<\/p>\n

New York Attorney General Letitia James, meanwhile, led seven states in suits seeking to block the Invenergy deal and another proposal with Bluepoint Wind, which agreed in April<\/a> to end a wind farm under development off the New York and New Jersey coast.<\/p>\n

The deals would hand energy companies $1.4 billion in taxpayer dollars in exchange for the cancellation of multiple projects. ln all, the Trump administration has pledged nearly $4 billion<\/a> to companies to walk away from projects across the country.<\/p>\n

The Interior Department, which oversees offshore development, did not respond to requests for comment. The department started buying back offshore wind leases<\/a> in March after federal courts thwarted Trump\u2019s efforts<\/a> to stop offshore wind development<\/a> through executive action.<\/p>\n

In exchange for reimbursements of lease fees, companies are investing in fossil fuel projects and geothermal energy. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has said that companies \u201care shifting investment back toward dependable, secure energy infrastructure that can power our economy and lower utility costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

James called the deals illegal and said they will ultimately increase Americans\u2019 electricity bills by sabotaging states\u2019 ability to meet growing energy demands.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmericans are facing increasing energy costs because this administration would rather pay off energy companies than let us build the new power sources we need,\u201d James said in a statement. \u201cThese illegal backroom deals take money that should have gone toward lowering New Yorkers\u2019 bills and hand it to fossil fuel projects in other states.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonta said that as a national and global leader in the fight against climate change, California finds itself enmeshed in \u201cavoidable and unnecessary battles with our own federal government\u201d to advance climate action and move toward clean energy.<\/p>\n

Trump, who often talks about his hatred of wind power<\/a>, has said his goal is to not let any \u201cwindmills\u201d be built. Offshore wind produces electricity cleanly. Oil, coal and natural gas emit carbon pollution when burned.<\/p>\n

Bonta, speaking at a Climate Week event in New York City, said climate action needs to match the scope, speed and scale of the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we have to go to court and block an unlawful action by the Trump administration each time, it takes time. It slows the process down and we know we are running out of time and we need to be urgent and aggressive,\u201d Bonta said Tuesday in remarks just before Trump addressed the U.N. General Assembly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still all in, in California,\u201d Bonta said. \u201cNo matter what the Trump administration does, we\u2019re going to push to participate in the climate action that is needed to meet this moment and to rise to the occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later Tuesday, Bonta and other officials participated in a Climate Week panel about state leadership on wind energy. California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild said at the New York City Bar that states retain the ability to drive a transition away from fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

While Trump can slow it down and make it more expensive, Hochschild said, \u201che can\u2019t put the genie back in the bottle.\u201d<\/p>\n

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority President Doreen Harris said states are all confident they\u2019ll ultimately succeed in court, but need more energy infrastructure for a reliable grid.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is, even if successful, the question becomes who is going to invest?\u201d Harris said. She added, \u201cwe just want to get back to building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attorneys general in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont joined New York\u2019s suit.<\/p>\n

(Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Democratic attorneys general from California and New York sued the Trump administration Tuesday over its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1922,3431,7443,3242,9,11,10,49,51,50,21755,2157,98546,45441],"class_list":["post-354379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-clean-energy","tag-climate","tag-climate-change","tag-environment","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-offshore-wind","tag-renewable-energy","tag-turbines","tag-wind-farm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}