Attorney General Clark Files Second Round of Lawsuits Challenging Illegal Offshore Wind Deals

Attorney General Charity Clark today joined seven other attorneys general in suing the Trump Administration to block two deals that would cancel four planned offshore wind projects off the coast of Maine and New York in exchange for $1.4 billion in federal funds. 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.

"It is plainly unlawful to use federal funds to pressure companies into foregoing critical renewable energy projects," said Attorney General Clark. "The federal government should be helping communities build the energy infrastructure of the future-not paying companies to walk away from it."

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.

New England's energy demand is projected to rise 9% over the next ten years. Offshore wind energy would help meet this demand and renewable energy goals, including in Vermont. The lease cancellations are expected to negatively impact electric reliability, especially during constrained winter periods, and raise costs for consumers.

Attorney General Clark 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.

This is the second time Attorney General Clark has sued DOI over the cancellation of offshore wind leases. In June, Attorney General Clark and a coalition sued DOI for the cancellation of two offshore wind leases with a French energy company, TotalEnergies, in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds.

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

Today's lawsuits are the 71st and 72nd cases Attorney General Clark has brought against the Trump Administration since President Trump took office in January 2025. For more information on actions taken by the Attorney General on behalf of Vermonters, visit our website.

Contact: Haley Sommer, Senior Advisor to the Attorney General, 802-828-3171