New York Leads Lawsuits Challenging $1.4 Billion Offshore Wind Buyouts

New York is leading a coalition of states in two new lawsuits challenging Trump administration agreements that would cancel offshore wind leases and redirect roughly $1.4 billion toward liquefied natural gas and other conventional energy projects.

New York Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Kathy Hochul announced the lawsuits Tuesday, targeting separate agreements between the U.S. Department of the Interior and Bluepoint Wind and Invenergy.

The states argue the administration is unlawfully using federal money to reimburse offshore wind developers for relinquishing leases while steering investment toward LNG, natural gas-fired generation and other energy projects.

The Bluepoint agreement was announced by Interior in April as part of the administration’s expanding offshore wind buyout strategy, after federal courts blocked several earlier efforts to halt projects already under construction.

Under that deal, Global Infrastructure Partners, part of BlackRock and a 50% owner of Bluepoint Wind alongside Ocean Winds, committed to invest up to $765 million — equal to the original lease bid — in a U.S.-based LNG facility.

After the investment is made, Interior agreed to reimburse the company’s lease payment in the amount invested and cancel Lease OCS-A 0537 in the New York Bight. Bluepoint also agreed not to pursue new offshore wind development in the United States.

The 71,522-acre lease, awarded during the federal government’s record-setting 2022 New York Bight auction, was originally envisioned to support as much as 1.7 gigawatts of offshore wind generation. The winning bid was $765 million.

The second lawsuit challenges an agreement involving Invenergy.

The administration announced the Invenergy agreement in June, covering offshore wind leases in the New York Bight, California and Gulf of Maine and redirecting capital toward natural gas and geothermal projects.

According to New York, the administration agreed to pay Invenergy $653 million from the federal Judgment Fund in connection with the cancellation of three offshore wind leases, including one off New York. The state says the money would instead support natural gas plants in Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri, along with geothermal projects in the western United States.

The two canceled New York projects alone were expected to bring more than $16 billion in investment to the state and create more than 2,800 jobs, according to the attorney general’s office. Combined with the other affected Invenergy leases, the projects were expected to provide more than 8 gigawatts of generating capacity.

At the center of the lawsuits is the administration’s use of the federal Judgment Fund.

New York and the other states argue the fund can only be used to resolve legitimate legal claims against the federal government and that the offshore wind agreements were instead structured to advance the administration’s energy policy.

The lawsuits allege violations of the Administrative Procedure Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, Judgment Fund Act and other federal spending laws. The states are asking federal courts to void the agreements and block further implementation.

The legal challenges follow New York’s earlier lawsuit over the administration’s $795 million TotalEnergies offshore wind agreement. California has also sued over the $120 million Golden State Wind agreement.

Interior has defended the broader strategy as a way to redirect investment away from offshore wind and toward energy sources the administration considers more affordable and reliable.

When announcing the Bluepoint agreement in April, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the deals would move capital toward what the administration calls “proven conventional solutions.”

The lawsuits expand a growing legal fight over the Trump administration’s effort to unwind the U.S. offshore wind development pipeline.

After federal courts repeatedly blocked efforts to suspend projects already under construction, the administration increasingly turned to negotiated exits involving earlier-stage leases.

The approach has now produced agreements involving TotalEnergies, Bluepoint Wind, Golden State Wind, Duke Energy, Invenergy and RWE. In August, RWE agreed to surrender its U.S. offshore wind leases in a $1.22 billion settlement while redirecting investment toward LNG and natural gas generation.

For the maritime sector, each canceled lease further reduces a U.S. offshore wind pipeline that had been expected to support demand for specialized construction vessels, Jones Act feeder barges, port upgrades, fabrication facilities and other domestic supply-chain investments.

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