Sierra Club CT Applauds State for Challenging Trump Administration's Illegal TotalEnergies Offshore Wind Lease Buyout

HARTFORD, Ct. - Today, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont sued the Trump administration over the U.S. Department of the Interior's $1 billion buyout of TotalEnergies' offshore wind lease, a move that led the company to abandon its U.S. offshore wind projects in exchange for doubling down on fossil fuel investments, including LNG exports in the Gulf.

Earlier this year, Revolution Wind in Connecticut and Rhode Island officially began sending low-cost power to the grid. Once completed, the project has the potential to power 350,000 homes. The project has created 1,200 stable, well-paying jobs in the region.

The Trump administration has previously suffered five straight losses in the courts over its illegal orders to stop offshore wind development.

In response to the states' lawsuit, Sierra Club Connecticut Organizer Julianna Larue released the following statement:

"Today we applaud Attorney General William Tong and the six other attorneys general for pushing back against President Trump's TotalEnergies deal. Under the terms of the buyout, Connecticut residents, families, businesses will be cut out of good, local jobs and clean, affordable energy. This deal is bad for energy customers and industry workers here and across New England and the Mid-Atlantic.

"With Revolution Wind already sending power to the grid, offshore wind has proven to be a reliable energy source, capable of creating thousands of jobs and powering hundreds of thousands of homes. As the threat of expanding expensive, highly-polluting gas pipelines looms, it is critical that our state pursue clean, affordable energy solutions like offshore wind."

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.