Story perspectives

Eight AGs Sue Trump Over $2B Secret Offshore Deals

7/18/2026

Summary

Story summary

Eight attorneys general will sue the U.S. President Donald Trump administration over $2 billion in secret offshore wind settlements.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum halted five East Coast offshore wind projects and ordered lease buybacks for national-security reasons.
The settlements would have powered three million homes in New York, New Jersey and New England.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the $111 million lease buyout a waste of taxpayer money.

History

Historical Context

President George W. Bush’s 2005 Energy Policy Act first authorized offshore wind leases, a provision later used by the Interior Department to hold the 2015 New York-New Jersey auction that raised $1.5 billion from developers such as Ørsted. Decades of federal incentives now fuel lawsuits by eight state attorneys general against the Trump administration over $2 billion of secret settlement deals, threatening the Biden administration’s 2030 clean-energy targets.

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Story summary

Eight attorneys general will sue the U.S. President Donald Trump administration over $2 billion in secret offshore wind settlements.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum halted five East Coast offshore wind projects and ordered lease buybacks for national-security reasons.
The settlements would have powered three million homes in New York, New Jersey and New England.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the $111 million lease buyout a waste of taxpayer money.

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