Washington
New York, California sue to block Trump deals canceling offshore wind projects
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic attorneys general from California and New York sued the Trump administration Tuesday over its plans to buy back offshore wind leases as President Donald Trump seeks to discourage the expansion of wind energy in favor of fossil fuels.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said he is suing over removal of a project off his state’s coast planned by Chicago-based Invenergy. The Trump administration said in June that it’s buying back the company’s U.S. offshore wind leases for four wind projects on the East and West coasts.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, meanwhile, led seven states in suits seeking to block the Invenergy deal and another proposal with Bluepoint Wind, which agreed in April to end a wind farm under development off the New York and New Jersey coast.
The deals would hand energy companies $1.4 billion in taxpayer dollars in exchange for the cancellation of multiple projects. ln all, the Trump administration has pledged nearly $4 billion to companies to walk away from projects across the country.
The Interior Department, which oversees offshore development, did not respond to requests for comment. The department started buying back offshore wind leases in March after federal courts thwarted Trump’s efforts to stop offshore wind development through executive action.
In exchange for reimbursements of lease fees, companies are investing in fossil fuel projects and geothermal energy. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has said that companies “are shifting investment back toward dependable, secure energy infrastructure that can power our economy and lower utility costs.”
James called the deals illegal and said they will ultimately increase Americans’ electricity bills by sabotaging states’ ability to meet growing energy demands.
Bonta said that as a national and global leader in the fight against climate change, California finds itself enmeshed in “avoidable and unnecessary battles with our own federal government” to advance climate action and move toward clean energy.
Trump, who often talks about his hatred of wind power, has said his goal is to not let any “windmills” be built. Offshore wind produces electricity cleanly. Oil, coal and natural gas emit carbon pollution when burned.
Bonta, speaking at a Climate Week event in New York City, said climate action needs to match the scope, speed and scale of the problem.
“Because we have to go to court and block an unlawful action by the Trump administration each time, it takes time. It slows the process down and we know we are running out of time and we need to be urgent and aggressive,” Bonta said Tuesday in remarks just before Trump addressed the U.N. General Assembly.
Later Tuesday, Bonta and other officials participated in a Climate Week panel about state leadership on wind energy. California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild said at the New York City Bar that states retain the ability to drive a transition away from fossil fuels.
While Trump can slow it down and make it more expensive, Hochschild said, “he can’t put the genie back in the bottle.”
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority President Doreen Harris said states are all confident they’ll ultimately succeed in court, but need more energy infrastructure for a reliable grid.
Attorneys general in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont joined New York’s suit.
Texas
Investigators seek evidence of manslaughter, other crimes in 27 flood deaths at Camp Mystic
Camp Mystic faces a criminal investigation that could include manslaughter or negligent homicide charges in the deaths of 27 girls amid devastating flooding in Texas last year, court documents show.
In applications for search warrants executed last week, investigators sought to obtain the electronic communications of the camp’s owners, saying they could provide evidence of manslaughter, negligent homicide, child abandonment or other crimes. No charges have been brought, and a representative of the camp did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Brant Johnston, with the Texas Rangers, wrote in an affidavit that Camp Mystic had inadequate emergency plans, failed to conduct emergency drills or training, and in some cabins did not have enough adult counselors. Its owners neglected to take precautions by relocating children from low-lying cabins despite having monitored late-night flood warnings, Johnston wrote.
“Young campers cannot reasonably be expected to independently recognize a rapidly developing, life-threatening hazard or to organize and execute an evacuation absent direction from an adequate number of adult supervisors,” Johnston wrote.
He concluded: “Camp Mystic, LLC was aware of and consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk of death to the campers in their care.”
Twenty-five campers and two teenage counselors at the Christian all-girls camp were killed as the raging Guadalupe River surged beyond its banks before dawn on July 4, 2025. Camp Mystic owner Richard Eastland also died in the flood.
For decades, Camp Mystic was a summer staple and an institution for generations of families, who dropped off their girls at the sleepaway camp to ride horses, canoe, fish and attend Bible studies. The camp did not reopen this year, and it has filed for bankruptcy reorganization.
All told, the destructive flooding killed at least 136 people along a several-mile stretch of the river, raising questions about how things went so terribly wrong.
Attorneys for some of the victims’ families welcomed the search warrants but said they should not have been necessary.
“For more than a year, families of the 27 angels killed at Camp Mystic have fought, begged, and pleaded with the Eastland family for accountability and answers,” Christina Yarnell and Brad Beckworth, attorneys for the family of victim Cile Steward, said in a written statement. “Instead, the Eastlands have held hostage the information and answers owed to parents who deserve, more than anyone, to know the details surrounding their daughters’ final moments.”
Steward’s body still has not been found.
Johnston wrote in the warrant that he made several visits to Camp Mystic and that he and other investigators have conducted interviews with witnesses, flood victims and people associated with the camp.
But several people, including members of the Eastland family and other top camp officials, refused interviews, Johnston wrote.
The Eastland family and other camp leaders have testified in courtrooms and in front of the state Legislature in the months since the flood, however, with camp director Edward Eastland offering a tearful apology.
New York, California sue to block Trump deals canceling offshore wind projects
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic attorneys general from California and New York sued the Trump administration Tuesday over its plans to buy back offshore wind leases as President Donald Trump seeks to discourage the expansion of wind energy in favor of fossil fuels.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said he is suing over removal of a project off his state’s coast planned by Chicago-based Invenergy. The Trump administration said in June that it’s buying back the company’s U.S. offshore wind leases for four wind projects on the East and West coasts.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, meanwhile, led seven states in suits seeking to block the Invenergy deal and another proposal with Bluepoint Wind, which agreed in April to end a wind farm under development off the New York and New Jersey coast.
The deals would hand energy companies $1.4 billion in taxpayer dollars in exchange for the cancellation of multiple projects. ln all, the Trump administration has pledged nearly $4 billion to companies to walk away from projects across the country.
The Interior Department, which oversees offshore development, did not respond to requests for comment. The department started buying back offshore wind leases in March after federal courts thwarted Trump’s efforts to stop offshore wind development through executive action.
In exchange for reimbursements of lease fees, companies are investing in fossil fuel projects and geothermal energy. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has said that companies “are shifting investment back toward dependable, secure energy infrastructure that can power our economy and lower utility costs.”
James called the deals illegal and said they will ultimately increase Americans’ electricity bills by sabotaging states’ ability to meet growing energy demands.
Bonta said that as a national and global leader in the fight against climate change, California finds itself enmeshed in “avoidable and unnecessary battles with our own federal government” to advance climate action and move toward clean energy.
Trump, who often talks about his hatred of wind power, has said his goal is to not let any “windmills” be built. Offshore wind produces electricity cleanly. Oil, coal and natural gas emit carbon pollution when burned.
Bonta, speaking at a Climate Week event in New York City, said climate action needs to match the scope, speed and scale of the problem.
“Because we have to go to court and block an unlawful action by the Trump administration each time, it takes time. It slows the process down and we know we are running out of time and we need to be urgent and aggressive,” Bonta said Tuesday in remarks just before Trump addressed the U.N. General Assembly.
Later Tuesday, Bonta and other officials participated in a Climate Week panel about state leadership on wind energy. California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild said at the New York City Bar that states retain the ability to drive a transition away from fossil fuels.
While Trump can slow it down and make it more expensive, Hochschild said, “he can’t put the genie back in the bottle.”
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority President Doreen Harris said states are all confident they’ll ultimately succeed in court, but need more energy infrastructure for a reliable grid.
Attorneys general in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont joined New York’s suit.
Texas
Investigators seek evidence of manslaughter, other crimes in 27 flood deaths at Camp Mystic
Camp Mystic faces a criminal investigation that could include manslaughter or negligent homicide charges in the deaths of 27 girls amid devastating flooding in Texas last year, court documents show.
In applications for search warrants executed last week, investigators sought to obtain the electronic communications of the camp’s owners, saying they could provide evidence of manslaughter, negligent homicide, child abandonment or other crimes. No charges have been brought, and a representative of the camp did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Brant Johnston, with the Texas Rangers, wrote in an affidavit that Camp Mystic had inadequate emergency plans, failed to conduct emergency drills or training, and in some cabins did not have enough adult counselors. Its owners neglected to take precautions by relocating children from low-lying cabins despite having monitored late-night flood warnings, Johnston wrote.
“Young campers cannot reasonably be expected to independently recognize a rapidly developing, life-threatening hazard or to organize and execute an evacuation absent direction from an adequate number of adult supervisors,” Johnston wrote.
He concluded: “Camp Mystic, LLC was aware of and consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk of death to the campers in their care.”
Twenty-five campers and two teenage counselors at the Christian all-girls camp were killed as the raging Guadalupe River surged beyond its banks before dawn on July 4, 2025. Camp Mystic owner Richard Eastland also died in the flood.
For decades, Camp Mystic was a summer staple and an institution for generations of families, who dropped off their girls at the sleepaway camp to ride horses, canoe, fish and attend Bible studies. The camp did not reopen this year, and it has filed for bankruptcy reorganization.
All told, the destructive flooding killed at least 136 people along a several-mile stretch of the river, raising questions about how things went so terribly wrong.
Attorneys for some of the victims’ families welcomed the search warrants but said they should not have been necessary.
“For more than a year, families of the 27 angels killed at Camp Mystic have fought, begged, and pleaded with the Eastland family for accountability and answers,” Christina Yarnell and Brad Beckworth, attorneys for the family of victim Cile Steward, said in a written statement. “Instead, the Eastlands have held hostage the information and answers owed to parents who deserve, more than anyone, to know the details surrounding their daughters’ final moments.”
Steward’s body still has not been found.
Johnston wrote in the warrant that he made several visits to Camp Mystic and that he and other investigators have conducted interviews with witnesses, flood victims and people associated with the camp.
But several people, including members of the Eastland family and other top camp officials, refused interviews, Johnston wrote.
The Eastland family and other camp leaders have testified in courtrooms and in front of the state Legislature in the months since the flood, however, with camp director Edward Eastland offering a tearful apology.
