Offshore wind advocates are continuing their legal battle against the Trump administration, following its shift in strategy against the industry two months ago to allow developers to back out of leases signed in the Biden era if they agree to funnel past payments into oil and gas investments.
Seven states led by New York sued the Trump administration on June 2, alleging that its March $928 million purchase agreement with French offshore wind developer TotalEnergies to cancel pre-project ocean leases in that state and North Carolina in exchange for funneling refunds to Texas oil drilling and gas plant investments is “blatantly illegal” and should annulled
The lawsuit comes just months after developers and developers of the East Coast project succeeded in convincing federal judges to overturn a Trump administration-imposed construction freeze imposed in December.
The latest legal battle aims to overturn an agreement that would allow TotalEnergies to revoke a $795 million lease to develop two Attentive Energy wind projects in an area of the federal ocean between New York and New Jersey, as well as a $133 million pact in North Carolina, New Jersey, as did Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and the District of Rhode Island, Washington DC, Washington DC seeking that the pact to cancellation and liquidation of vacant lease.
ENR could not verify at the time of publication of the story whether this ruling would force TotalEnergies to build a project on its leased site, which it had previously said it would pause in light of the Trump administration’s policies.
“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,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James. Gov. Kathy Hochul described the TotalEnergies deal as a “pay-for-no-play scheme” and “an outrageous abuse of taxpayer dollars that hurts our ability to meet our energy needs, create good jobs and help ensure America’s energy independence while reducing emissions.”
Trump administration officials, including Interior Secretary Douglas Burgum, have defended the TotalEnergies deal as voluntary.
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Separately, a coalition of renewable energy groups filed a complaint in a federal district court in Oregon last month challenging the U.S. Department of Defense’s actions in failing to complete national security reviews of onshore wind projects on private land, with an estimated 160 project approvals stalled. Department officials claim that this inaction has completely stopped the development of the wind project. The Pentagon has said the delay in the review process is because it is complex.
Meanwhile, more than 50 environmental groups and non-governmental organizations are moving to stop new developer deals, according to reports. Friends of the Earth says the groups have written to Markus Krebber, chief executive of German energy developer RWE, asking the company to halt its rumored negotiations with the administration to return more than $1 billion in offshore wind lease payments to reinvest in gas sector projects it says would pose a “very real financial risk to your company and shareholders.”
Industry participants and observers are also watching the trajectory of the 2027 Interior and Environment spending bill, which a House appropriations subcommittee advanced in May. It seeks to impose a series of inspection fees on offshore wind projects that analysts and Democrats say could be far higher than what offshore oil companies pay for their turbine inspection projects.
The Virginia Offshore Wind Project in Virginia Beach will have 176 turbines when it’s completed next year. and wind farms include many turbines – annual fees for offshore oil and gas operations under the bill are not charged per well. “The lack of clarity and predictability around inspection fees for offshore wind is troubling,” said Pasha Feinberg, offshore wind strategist at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
