By Chris Hitchcock • Chapter Legal Advisor
As part of the Trump administration’s irrational campaign to block offshore wind projects, it recently cancelled the Department of Interior’s (DOI) lease with Attentive Energy for its offshore wind projects off the coast of New York and New Jersey.
As is patently obvious to New Jersey, New York, and other northeastern states, there is a pressing need to provide more electric power to their residents. Attentive Energy’s projects would have provided 2.7 gigawatts of electricity to New Jersey and New York, enough to power over 1.3 million homes. Because of the compelling need to provide new sources of clean energy, and the Trump administration’s breach of statutory requirements in cancelling the lease, New York, New Jersey, and five New England states that would have received power under this lease filed suit in the District of Columbia on June 2, 2026, to overturn the lease cancellation and prevent the Trump administration from taking further steps to implement the cancellation.
New Jersey and New York have relied on developing offshore wind as part of their long-term strategies to support grid reliability, energy diversification, and climate goals. Attentive Energy’s lease was crucial to this plan because the addition of offshore wind would ensure that there would be adequate electricity to meet the growing demand for electricity in both states.
As part of the planning for the offshore wind projects, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) analyzed and extensively consulted with the Department of Defense (unofficially the Department of War) to ensure that any resulting wind energy projects would comply with all national security concerns. Nevertheless, in December 2025, BOEM Acting Director Matthew Giacona issued orders directing five offshore wind projects to suspend all ongoing activities for the next 90 days for unspecified national security reasons. However, in January and February 2026, two federal district courts temporarily blocked the suspension orders because the government failed to prove any imminent national security risk. On similar grounds, another federal judge rejected the administration’s efforts to block onshore wind farms in various western states.
Despite failing to prove any national security risk, on March 23, 2026, four years after awarding Attentive Energy the lease, the DOI announced that it had cancelled the lease and would pay the company $795 million in taxpayer dollars, the amount Attentive Energy paid for the lease. In addition, Attentive Energy promised to invest the full payment in fossil fuel projects.
As is typical of the Trump Administration, it blithely ignored the legal requirements for cancelling the lease. For example, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act limits the DOI’s ability to cancel the lease. The law requires that DOI hold a hearing and, based on the evidence presented at the hearing, find that the lease would likely cause serious harm to life, property, national security, or the environment. It also must determine that the benefits of cancelling the lease outweigh the benefits of the lease continuing. No such hearing was held.
The DOI also violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to complete an environmental impact statement for the cancellation. DOI also ignored procedures required by the Administrative Procedure Act.
The $795 million payment also violates the Judgment Fund Act, which authorizes payments only to settle claims related to ongoing or imminent litigation. The payment to Attentive Energy clearly is not a settlement of imminent litigation.
Separately, on July 15 and 16, New Jersey joined New York, Delaware, and the five New England states (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont) by filing two notices of intent to sue DOI for cancellation of leases with Bluepoint Wind LLC (Bluepoint) and Invenergy Wind Offshore LLC and Invenergy NE Offshore Wind LLC (Invenergy). DOI agreed to pay $765 million in taxpayer dollars to Bluepoint and $653 million to Invenergy. Together, these offshore wind projects would have provided enough electricity for three million homes.
The notices cite the same statutory violations as in the Attentive Energy lawsuit. DOI claimed the same national security concerns despite the federal government having renewed and approved these leases after years of consultation with the Department of Defense and federal courts, which uniformly rejected this claim and found no imminent risk.
The lease cancellations follow a familiar pattern for this administration of cancelling programs it doesn’t like and ignoring legal constraints in doing so. The strategy is that, even if the cancellations are voided after years of litigation, these companies will have little appetite for resuming work on the projects.
It is expected that the states will seek an injunction to prevent the DOI from enforcing the cancellations while legal action is pending. But in the meantime, the lease cancellations are disruptive in multiple ways. They undermine the states’ economies, grid reliability, diversification of energy resources, growth of union jobs, and access to clean, affordable energy.