Attorney General Tong Sues to Block Illegal Offshore Wind Deals

Press Releases

09/22/2026

Attorney General Tong Sues to Block Illegal Offshore Wind Deals

(Hartford, CT) - Attorney General William Tong today joined seven other attorneys general in suing the Trump administration to block two deals to cancel four planned offshore wind projects in exchange for $1.4 billion from the federal Judgment Fund. In two lawsuits, one challenging a deal with Bluepoint Wind and the other challenging a deal with Invenergy, the coalition argues that the deals unlawfully misuse taxpayer dollars and fail to follow the required procedure for canceling any offshore wind leases. The planned projects were expected to produce enough energy to power more than four million homes. Instead, the companies will now invest this money into fossil fuel infrastructure elsewhere in the country. The attorneys general are asking the court to declare the deals illegal, vacate them, and prohibit the administration from moving forward with implementation.

"Again, Trump is putting corporate profits ahead of American families. 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. We desperately need more clean, renewable energy in this country to drive down costs for overburdened families. We sued to get Revolution Wind back online, and we're suing again now to stop Trump's reckless attempts to cancel more offshore wind projects and waste taxpayer dollars," said Attorney General Tong.

This is the latest lawsuit filed by Attorney General Tong to block the Trump administration's arbitrary and lawless attacks on offshore wind. Attorney General Tong successfully sued the Trump Administration in 2025 over efforts to suspend work on the Revolution Wind offshore wind project, which is now operational and expected to deliver 2.5 percent of the region's electricity supply. Revolution Wind is projected to save Connecticut and Rhode Island ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars over 20 years. In June 2026, Attorney General Tong sued the Department of the Interior over its unlawful cancellation of the TotalEnergies offshore wind lease off the coast of New York. That case remains pending in district court in the District of Columbia.

Since the beginning of the president's second term, his administration has continually attempted to stop offshore wind development. The president himself has stated that his "goal is not to let any windmill be built," and his interior secretary promised that "under this administration, there is not a future for offshore wind." After the attorneys general secured repeated court wins striking down the federal government's efforts to eliminate wind development, the administration pivoted to a new strategy: paying off companies to abandon their wind energy projects.

Attorney General Tong and the coalition's first lawsuit today challenges the U.S. Department of the Interior's (DOI) deal with Bluepoint Wind, which canceled the company's lease in the New York Bight and, in exchange, paid Bluepoint $765 million from the Judgment Fund, a taxpayer-funded account reserved for legitimate legal settlements. Bluepoint will instead use the money to build a liquefied natural gas facility and has committed not to pursue future offshore wind developments in the United States.

In their second lawsuit, the attorneys general are challenging DOI's deal with Invenergy, which canceled three offshore wind leases, including one in the New York Bight and two in the Gulf of Maine, and paid the company $653 million from the same fund. Under the deal, Invenergy will redirect the $653 million to natural gas plants in Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri and geothermal projects in the western United States.

Attorney General Tong and the coalition argue that the administration is unlawfully using taxpayer dollars to advance the president's policy preference for oil and gas development. The agreements do not resolve any actual or imminent litigation, meaning the administration has no legal basis to pay these companies hundreds of millions of dollars from the Judgment Fund, which Congress established solely to pay legitimate legal claims against the government. The attorneys general assert that the deals violate the Administrative Procedure Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the Judgment Fund Act, and other federal spending laws. They are asking the courts to declare the agreements unlawful, void the lease cancellations, and block the administration from taking any further action to carry out the deals.

Joining Attorney General Tong in filing both lawsuits, which were led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, are the attorneys general of Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont. California is filing a separate, concurrent lawsuit challenging a deal between Invenergy and the administration to cancel a lease off of its coast.

Special Assistant Attorney General Benjamin Cheney and Deputy Associate Attorney General Matthew Levine, Chief of the Environment Section assisted the Attorney General in this matter.

Media Contact:

Elizabeth Benton
[email protected]

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