The attorneys general of the states of New York and California filed a lawsuit against the federal government on Tuesday over the plan to scrap offshore wind energy projects, given Donald Trump’s preference for fossil fuels.
The California attorney general, Rob Bonta, framed a case off his state’s coast, but the New York attorney general, Letitia James, leads seven states seeking to block the Trump administration’s plan to end development of this energy off the coasts of New York and New Jersey.
Joining these two states are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
The intended annulment of the projects in these states, if carried out, would entail paying compensation totaling 1.4 billion dollars.
In total, the Trump administration has already set aside four billion dollars to compensate for the cancellation of these projects nationwide.
James deemed the actions illegal and stated that in the end they will increase electricity costs for citizens by sabotaging the states’ ability to respond to rising energy demand.
On the other hand, Bonta pointed out that, as a national and international leader against global climate breakdown, California finds itself entangled in “avoidable and unnecessary battles with the federal government itself” to push climate action and move to clean energy.
