Attorney General Tong Sues U.S. Department of the Interior for Cancellation of TotalEnergies Offshore Wind Lease

06/02/2026

(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today joined six other attorneys general in suing the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) over its unlawful cancellation of a major offshore wind lease off the coast of New York. In March 2026, DOI announced a settlement agreement with TotalEnergies, a French energy company, under which TotalEnergies would cancel its two offshore wind leases in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds. In addition, the deal required TotalEnergies to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in oil and gas projects and pledge not to develop any new offshore wind projects in the United States. Attorney General Tong and the coalition argue that this settlement agreement violates federal law governing offshore wind leases and federal settlement payouts, and are asking the court to vacate the agreement and restore the leases.

This is the latest lawsuit filed by Attorney General Tong to block the Trump administration’s arbitrary and lawless attacks on offshore wind. Attorney General Tong successfully sued the Trump Administration in 2025 over efforts to suspend work on the Revolution Wind offshore wind project, which is now operational and expected to deliver 2.5 percent of the region’s electricity supply. Revolution Wind is projected to save Connecticut and Rhode Island ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars over 20 years.

“This deal is a $795 million slap in the face to every Connecticut family and business struggling with unaffordable and unsustainable energy bills. We desperately need more sources of clean, reliable energy, and this site was on track to deliver that. Instead, Donald Trump wants to throw taxpayer dollars at a company to do absolutely nothing and force us to pay premium prices on dirty energy all because of his irrational hatred of wind. We sued to get Revolution Wind back online, and we’re suing again now to stop Trump’s reckless attempts to cancel more offshore wind projects and waste taxpayer dollars,” said Attorney General Tong.

“At a time when residents are struggling to afford their electric bills, and we need more sources of electricity to power our grid, the Trump administration is spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to pay TotalEnergies to abandon a project that would provide clean, reliable wind power to the region, and instead invest in fossil fueled projects,” Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes said. “This project would have provided much-needed power and reliability to help the northeast meet growing energy demand.”

In 2022, Attentive Energy — a subsidiary of TotalEnergies — paid $795 million to purchase an offshore wind lease approximately 47 miles off the coast of New York, as part of the highest-grossing competitive offshore energy lease sale in United States history. The lease area was expected to support two projects: Attentive Energy One, which would have delivered energy to New York City, and Attentive Energy Two, which would have served New Jersey.

In March 2026, with construction plans already under review, DOI suddenly announced that it had reached an agreement with TotalEnergies to cancel the Attentive Energy lease and a separate lease off the coast of North Carolina. DOI claimed that new national security concerns justified the cancellation, even though the federal government had already reviewed and approved the lease area after years of analysis and consultation. Under the agreement, TotalEnergies would invest approximately $795 million into fossil fuel projects, while the federal government would reimburse the company with $795 million from the Judgment Fund, which may be used only to settle claims related to ongoing or imminent litigation. DOI also announced that TotalEnergies had pledged not to develop any new offshore wind projects in the United States.

Attorney General Tong and the coalition assert that the cancellation of the Attentive Energy projects will harm their states’ economies, energy grids, and climate goals.

Energy demand in New England is projected to rise nine percent over the next decade. Offshore wind, including energy generated from New York, is a critical component of meeting that demand. New England has relied on New York imports for seven percent of its energy load thus far in 2026. Arbitrary Trump administration constraints on affordable and clean New York energy generation will force New England to tap into less reliable, more expensive, and more polluting options.

The attorneys general argue that DOI's deal with TotalEnergies violates the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which limits the agency’s ability to cancel offshore wind leases. Under the law, to cancel a lease, DOI must hold a hearing, specifically find that continuing the lease would likely cause serious harm to life, property, national security, or the environment, and determine that the benefits of cancellation outweigh the benefits of allowing the lease to continue. DOI did none of that before canceling the Attentive Energy lease. The coalition also argues that the deal violates the Judgment Fund Act, as the $795 million payment was not a legitimate compromise settlement in an imminent lawsuit, and the Administrative Procedure Act, as the federal government failed to follow the required procedure to cancel the lease. In addition, they contend DOI violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to complete an Environmental Impact Statement for the cancellation.

Attorney General Tong and the coalition are asking the court to strike down the settlement, vacate the lease cancellation, and stop the administration from taking further action to implement this deal.

Joining Attorney General Tong in today’s lawsuit, which was led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, are the attorneys general of Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Assistant Attorney General Benjamin Cheney and Deputy Associate Attorney General Matthew Levine, Chief of the Environment Section assisted the Attorney General in this matter.

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