Seven US States Sue Fed. Government, TotalEnergies After Cancelling Offshore Wind Lease Maritime Activity Reports, Inc. June 2, 2026 © Adobe Stock/InfiniteFlow Seven U.S. states led by New York sued the Trump administration on Tuesday for cancelling a major  offshore  wind lease off the coast of New York in exchange for a pledge by its owner to invest instead in fossil fuel projects. The lawsuit in the Washington, D.C., federal court challenges a March 23 decision by the U.S. Department of the Interior to cancel a lease by a subsidiary of France's TotalEnergies, "reimburse" $795 million to the company, and extract a pledge from the company not to develop new  offshore  wind projects in the United States. Total also agreed to spend nearly $1 billion on a Texas LNG plant and on U.S. oil and gas drilling. The deal represented a new strategy in the administration's wide-ranging effort to stop development of U.S.  offshore  wind projects, which President Donald Trump has said he finds ugly and expensive. His administration has sought to increase domestic fossil fuel production and scrapped policies that support clean  energy  development. The Justice Department declined to comment on the lawsuit. The project, known as Attentive  Energy , would have generated enough power for 1.3 million homes in New York and New Jersey, the states alleged. Both states are relying on  offshore  wind development to meet soaring  energy  needs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. In addition to New York, the suing states include New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont. According to the complaint, the states allege the administration failed to follow proper administrative processes and misused a government fund reserved for legal settlements even though there was no litigation between the parties. "This pay-not-to-play scheme pressuring a foreign company to forego planne