New York v. U.S. Department of the Interior

New York, New Jersey, and six other Northeastern states filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of New York challenging the cancellation of Bluepoint Wind, LLC’s 71,000-acre offshore wind lease in the New York Bight. The federal defendants canceled the lease via a settlement pursuant to which Bluepoint Wind, LLC agreed to the termination of its lease and agreed to invest the amount paid for the lease in eligible “conventional energy projects” such as “liquefied natural gas” and “non-renewable based electricity” in exchange for a payment of the same amount. The complaint alleged harms to New York's energy interests, economic interests, climate goals and economic and public health interests and New Jersey's energy interests and also alleged that the cancellation of the lease would deprive other plaintiff states of energy reliability, energy affordability, clean energy, climate, and emission-reduction benefits. The states asserted that the lease cancellation was arbitrary and capricious because the defendants failed to provide a reasoned explanation, failed to explain their change in position or account for the states’ reliance interests; failed to address alternative means of achieving their objectives; and failed to provide a “genuine justification” for cancellation. The complaint asserted that cancellation of the lease constituted a major federal action subject to NEPA and that the cancellation violated the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. In addition, the states asserted that the settlement agreement violated the Judgment Fund Act, Antideficiency Act, Purpose Statute, and Miscellaneous Receipts Act, and exceeded statutory authority. The states also asserted that the settlement agreement was unconstitutional because it violated the Spending and Appropriations Clauses and the separation of powers doctrine. They also asserted a claim that the settlement agreement was ultra vires.