New York, Maine lead challenge against Trump offshore wind dealings

Eight states claim the Trump administration's offshore wind project cancellations are an illegal use of taxpayer money and sabotage their efforts to keep up with growing energy demands.BROOKLYN (CN) — New York officials joined seven other Northeastern states in a pair of legal challenges filed Tuesday, accusing the Trump administration of paying energy companies $1.4 billion in taxpayer funds to cancel four offshore wind projects.President Donald Trump made the deals to keep money in fossil fuel projects despite a surging energy demand and need for the thousands of jobs the canceled projects would have created, New York Attorney General Letitia James said.She said two canceled projects in New York would have brought the state more than $16 billion in investments and created 2,800 jobs while generating enough power for more than 4 million homes.“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, all while our energy demand continues to grow. At a moment when every available resource should go to keeping the lights on and prices down, this administration is choosing corruption over communities,” James said in a statement.James is joined by the attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont. The coalition filed separate complaints against the U.S. Department of the Interior in New York and Maine, over deals with Bluepoint Wind and Invenergy, respectively, claiming the agreements are an illegal use of taxpayer money and sabotage the states’ efforts to keep up with growing energy demands.According to the states, the Interior Department paid Bluepoint $765 million from the taxpayer-funded Judgment Fund, which is used for legal settlements — money that will go to building a liquefied natural gas facility as the federal government pulls the plug on offshore wind developments.In the second deal, the states say the department canceled three offshore leases and paid Invenergy $653 million from the same fund, which will go toward natural gas plants in Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri, and to geothermal projects in the western United States.Energy from the fossil fuel projects is not expected to fuel New York’s grid.California filed a separate lawsuit challenging a deal with Invenergy to cancel a West Coast lease.Connecticut Attorney General William Tong accused Trump of “putting corporate profits ahead of American families” while the country desperately needs renewable energy to drive down costs.“He is taking our tax dollars for business bribes to block offshore wind so that Big Oil can keep extracting maximum profits from old fossil fuel infrastructure,” Tong said in a statement.The states accuse the Trump administration of violating the Administrative Procedure Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and the Judgment Fund Act, and are seeking judgments declaring the agreements unlawful and voiding the lease cancellations.Trump has long opposed wind energy development and has said it’s his goal not to let any windmills be built in the U.S., a message echoed by his administration’s Interior Department.“Under this administration, there is not a future for offshore wind because it is too expensive and not reliable enough,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said last year.Last year a federal judge ruled against the Trump administration’s effort to block an offshore wind farm in New England, Revolution Wind, which was already nearly 80% complete.There’s also an ongoing lawsuit in the District of Columbia over the Interior Department’s cancellation of the TotalEnergies offshore wind lease off the coast of New York.In response to a request for comment on Tuesday’s lawsuits, an Interior Department spokesperson referred to the deals as “settlements” that “went through the appropriate channels.” The representative also pointed to security concerns but did not respond to a follow-up inquiry as to what those concerns are.“This administration will not sit back and let reckless projects create higher utility costs, a weakened energy system and unnecessary harm to the environment,” the spokesperson said.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads