States continue to sue the Trump administration over purchases of wind leases held by developers of offshore wind projects. The latest include two joint multi-state lawsuits, led by New York, and a separate lawsuit from California, representing $1.5 billion in payments the Trump administration made to Invenergy and Bluepoint Wind for leases off the coasts of California, the Mid-Atlantic and New England, with the money redirected to fossil fuel and geothermal projects, much of it outside those states.
The Trump administration has spent more than $4 billion on wind lease purchases since Sept. 22, according to legal filings, with cases filed against earlier purchases still working their way through the courts.
“It is illegal to use taxpayer dollars to make fund purchases that derail clean energy projects, as we set forth in our complaint,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said at a news conference Sept. 22 during Climate Week in New York. He added that the state “has spent nearly a decade working with federal agencies, developers, tribes, labor groups, courts, fishermen, local governments and communities to responsibly develop offshore wind projects.”
The projects were expected to bring billions of dollars in investment and thousands of jobs to the states while generating more than 10 GW of electricity: 5.8 GW of capacity for Invenergy’s New York Bay and Gulf of Maine projects; 2 GW for Invenergy to develop offshore wind at the Morro Bay Wind Energy Zone in California; and 2.4 GW for a Bluepoint Wind project in New York Bay.
Invenergy’s lease offer also included $33 million to dedicate to workforce and supply chain development. The state has also devoted significant resources to its nascent offshore wind development, boosted in 2024 by voters approving Proposition 4, which earmarked $475 million for related infrastructure development. “Awaiting the wind projects being developed off its coast, including the Invenergy project, [California] has invested more than $100 million to support offshore wind development, including creating a statewide offshore wind strategic plan and developing its ports and transmission facilities to support offshore wind,” according to the state court filing.
As part of its settlement with the U.S. Department of the Interior on June 17, Invenergy agreed to use money it received to relinquish the rights to its four offshore wind leases to develop gas plants in Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri, and a geothermal project at BlackRock’s U.S. subsidiary Midstream & LNG, a 50% LNG-based Bluepoint facility.
The unrealized projects will negatively affect the states’ energy needs, as projections show increasing demand, partly as a result of data center development. New York expects electricity demand to grow 8% in 2030 and 24% in 2040, he said in a news release. Similarly, New England projects 9 percent growth in demand by 2030. “Americans are facing rising energy costs because this administration would rather pay the energy companies than let us build the new energy sources we need,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.
Bonta said that while the litigation “slows down the process,” California intends to “prevent the federal administration from interfering and make sure we complete these projects.”
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