Multiple states are preparing to sue the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump over a series of deals the government has signed to end offshore wind energy developments, and a group of senators has launched an investigation.
Trump has made opposition to offshore wind energy a key policy in his second term, making multiple attempts to halt any development off the U.S. coast. On day one in office, Trump signed an executive order pausing federal approval for offshore wind projects located on the Outer Continental Shelf. That order was eventually struck down as “unlawful” by a federal judge in December 2025.
That setback has done little to deter the Trump administration in its efforts to end offshore wind development. Days after the ruling, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced that offshore wind projects needed to be paused due to “emerging national security risks.” However, federal judges allowed those projects to continue while they processed individual legal challenges to that announcement.
Since then, the Trump administration has taken a more direct route; buying out developers under the condition that they invest in other U.S.-based energy projects. The Department of the Interior announced the first deals in April, with wind energy developers Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind agreeing to cancel their offshore wind projects and invest instead in fossil fuel energy projects. A similar deal was announced with Invenergy in June.
Now, some states are pushing back, arguing that the federal government acted unlawfully in using taxpayer money to cancel the projects.
“Using taxpayer money to strike backroom buyouts that make clean-energy projects disappear is illegal,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a release. "Make no mistake: California will continue to hold the Trump Administration accountable for illegally striking deals to kill offshore wind projects.”
In June, the state of California issued a notice of intent to sue over the Golden State Wind deal. That same month, the attorneys general of New York, Connecticut, Maine, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont sued over the deal with TotalEnergies. On July 16, the attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont announced their intent to file suit over the Invenergy and Bluepoint Wind deals.
On the same day, a coalition of 19 states announced their intent to sue the Department of Defense for “unlawfully” pausing reviews of wind energy projects.
“Instead of focusing on boosting domestic sources of clean energy, the Trump Administration has chosen to freeze projects that would supply much-needed electricity to New Jerseyans and people across the country,” New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said in a release. “What New Jersey residents need is more, not less, energy generation to bring down record-high electricity bills, but the federal government is undermining nationwide investments in clean power that will impact prices here at home.”
On 17 July, a group of five U.S. senators launched an investigation into the Trump administration’s deals to kill offshore wind energy developments. The lawmakers are seeking answers and communications from the companies on the other side of those deals to learn more.
“These buyouts have been announced amid a larger effort by the Trump Administration to stall wind and solar projects – the energy sources that are cheap, clean, and fastest to bring online – across the country,” the senators wrote in the letters to companies. “These buyouts risk setting a dangerous precedent that could encourage further misuse of public funds to terminate clean energy projects in certain states in favor of fossil fuel investments that benefit other states.”
