The Trump administration was sued by seven states controlled by Democrats.
By Catholics for Catholics
Seven Democratic-controlled states sued the Trump administration on Tuesday over its actions to block a planned wind farm off the coast of New York.
The lawsuit by the Democrats looks to upend a deal made in March by the Trump administration with TotalEnergies, a French-based energy goliath. The transaction is that the government will pay the company $928 million to forsake plans to build wind projects off New York and another off North Carolina, according to a story by Newsmax.
Letitia James, the New York attorney general, filed the suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. A Democrat, James said in a statement that the deal transgressed at least two federal laws and that it would hinder New York’s economy and power grid.
Under a deal made public in March, French company TotalEnergies is getting $1 billion — essentially a refund of its leases for offshore wind projects off New York and North Carolina — if it invests the money in fossil fuel projects instead.
According to Newsmax, state attorneys general from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont affiliated with New York in challenging the cancellation of the lease off of New York, the larger of the two projects and the bulk of the payout.
“This administration cooked up a sham deal to pay a foreign energy company hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to abandon offshore wind and invest in oil and gas instead,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “We are fighting back to stop this illegal agreement that threatens to erase over a thousand union jobs and cheat millions of New Yorkers out of clean, affordable energy.”
The Trump administration is spending nearly $2 billion to get energy companies to walk away from U.S. offshore wind projects.
It took this strategy after federal courts spoiled Trump’s efforts to stop offshore wind development through executive action.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she and James will continue to aggressively fight back against President Donald Trump’s “overt and never-ending hostility toward offshore wind.” Trump, who often talks about his hatred of wind power, has said his goal is to not let any “windmills” be built.
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