States target $1.4bn in deals redirecting funds to fossil fuel and geothermal projects

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and New York Attorney General Letitia James filed suit on Tuesday against the Trump administration’s program to buy back offshore wind leases, targeting deals that would pay energy companies $1.4 billion to abandon wind projects on the East and West coasts. New York’s action drew the support of attorneys general in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont; California filed separately.

The suits challenge two specific transactions. In June, the Trump administration announced it was buying back leases held by Chicago-based Invenergy for four offshore wind projects on the East and West coasts. New York’s filing also targets a deal in which Bluepoint Wind agreed in April to end a wind farm under development off the New York and New Jersey coast. Together, the two deals would hand roughly $1.4 billion in taxpayer money to energy companies in exchange for canceling the projects.

The administration has pledged nearly $4 billion to companies willing to walk away from wind projects across the country. The Interior Department began buying back offshore wind leases in March, after federal courts blocked the president’s earlier attempts to stop offshore wind development through executive action. In exchange for reimbursements of lease fees, the participating companies are investing in fossil fuel projects and geothermal energy.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the companies “are shifting investment back toward dependable, secure energy infrastructure that can power our economy and lower utility costs.” James, in a statement, called the deals illegal and said they would “ultimately increase Americans’ electricity bills by sabotaging states’ ability to meet growing energy demands.”

“Americans are facing increasing energy costs because this administration would rather pay off energy companies than let us build the new power sources we need,” James said. “These illegal backroom deals take money that should have gone toward lowering New Yorkers’ bills and hand it to fossil fuel projects in other states.”

Bonta announced his suit at a Climate Week event in New York, just before Trump addressed the UN General Assembly. He said California, “as a national and global leader in the fight against climate change,” finds itself in “avoidable and unnecessary battles with our own federal government” over climate policy.

“Because we have to go to court and block an unlawful action by the Trump administration each time, it slows the process down and we know we are running out of time and we need to be urgent and aggressive,” Bonta said Tuesday.

“We’re still all in, in California,” Bonta said. “No matter what the Trump administration does, we’re going to push to participate in the climate action that is needed to meet this moment and to rise to the occasion.”

California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild, speaking in New York City, said the power to drive a transition away from fossil fuels still rests primarily with the states. Trump, who “often talks about his hatred of wind power,” can slow the transition and make it more expensive, but “he can’t put the genie back in the bottle,” Hochschild said.

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority President Doreen Harris said officials are confident they will ultimately succeed in court, but questioned whether investors will commit capital to projects facing federal opposition. “The reality is, even if successful, the question becomes who is going to invest,” Harris said. “We just want to get back to building.”

Trump has publicly stated his goal is to not allow any “windmills” to be built.