Press Release  AG Campbell Files Lawsuits Challenging Illegal Offshore Wind Buyouts

Boston — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today joined seven other attorneys general in suing the Trump Administration to block two deals that would cancel four planned offshore wind projects—projects that would have supplied New England with reliable, affordable energy—in exchange for $1.4 billion from the federal Judgment Fund. In two lawsuits, one challenging a deal with Invenergy and the other challenging a deal with Bluepoint Wind, the coalition argues that the federal government unlawfully misused taxpayer dollars and failed 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. 

“The cancellation of these offshore wind projects means that consumers could be facing growing energy bills and a less reliable energy grid at a time when energy costs are already too high,” said AG Campbell. “By continuing to baselessly attack wind energy in favor of fossil fuel production, the Trump Administration is raising costs on consumers and exacerbating the harmful impacts of climate change on our communities. These are bad deals for New Englanders and represent yet another illegal move by the Trump Administration that harms our communities.” 

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 with taxpayer money to abandon their wind energy projects. 

In AG Campbell’s first lawsuit filed today, the attorneys general are challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) 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, none of which will deliver a single watt of power to Massachusetts.  

In the second lawsuit filed today, the attorneys general challenge the 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 New England, the cancellation of these leases will deprive the region of important reliability, affordability, green energy, climate, and pollution-reduction benefits. For example, when New England cannot meet its electricity demand during cold winter months, more expensive and more polluting generators, including oil and gas burning facilities, are brought online to produce electricity. Offshore wind generation can reduce the need for these high-cost, high-emission electricity generators, especially in winter months, and the cancellation of these leases will deprive the region of that benefit. The canceled projects were expected to generate approximately 8.2 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 4 million homes. 

The cancellations come as New England’s electricity demand is projected to grow 9 percent over the next ten years, with 24 percent projected winter load growth over that same period. At the same time, aging fossil fuel generators are approaching retirement, making new sources of power essential to meeting growing demand and maintaining grid reliability. If the administration deprives the Northeast of new energy generation while demand continues to outpace supply, the attorneys general contend that electricity scarcity and grid congestion will worsen, increasing energy costs for consumers. 

AG Campbell and the coalition argue that the administration is unlawfully using taxpayer dollars to advance the president’s policy preference for fossil fuel 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 AG Campbell in filing both lawsuits are the attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, New Jersey, New York, 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. 

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