Huffman calls the TotalEnergies settlement "almost certainly unlawful"
Jared HuffmanU.S. Representative, Ranking Member, House Committee on Natural Resources
Rep. Jared Huffman and Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking members of the Natural Resources and Judiciary committees, wrote to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the acting Attorney General calling the TotalEnergies settlement unlawful and asking what statutory authority permitted the payment.
Responding to
The settlement payments to offshore wind developers are not lawful compromise settlements of actual or imminent litigation and are a type of payment otherwise provided for by law under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, making them unavailable from the Judgment Fund under 31 U.S.C. 1304.
“The agreement with TotalEnergies is almost certainly unlawful. DOI and TotalEnergies refer to a "settlement," indicating the administration may fund this payout through the Judgment Fund.”
Official statement
Where this statement fits
Did the Interior Department's offshore wind lease-cancellation payments comply with the Judgment Fund Act?
Beginning in March 2026, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced a series of agreements paying offshore wind developers TotalEnergies, Invenergy, and Bluepoint Wind a combined total of more than $2.3 billion to cancel seven offshore wind leases and redirect the money into oil, gas, and other conventional energy projects. Interior and the Department of Justice have said the payments were reviewed and approved settlements and dollar-for-dollar refunds that no company was forced to accept. Seven state attorneys general sued in June 2026; joined by an eighth, Delaware, and separately by California, they filed four federal lawsuits between June and September 2026 arguing the payments violate the Judgment Fund Act, 31 U.S.C. 1304, because no actual or imminent litigation existed to settle and because compensation for a canceled lease is otherwise available under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. Members of Congress, including Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and Rep. Deborah Ross, sent separate oversight letters demanding records on the legal basis for the payments. TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne has said the payment returns money the company itself gave the Treasury in 2022, a characterization Interior Secretary Doug Burgum echoed by calling it an "interest-free loan" being repaid.
Source and context
Official statement
About this source
Letter from the ranking members of the House Natural Resources and Judiciary committees questioning the legal basis for the TotalEnergies settlement.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
The letter followed Interior's March 23, 2026 announcement that it would pay TotalEnergies nearly $1 billion to cancel its offshore wind leases.
After the quotation
Huffman and Raskin asked Interior and the Justice Department to answer eight questions, including which accounts the $928 million would be drawn from, by April 20, 2026.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Huffman directly labels the settlement unlawful and links its "settlement" framing to a likely Judgment Fund funding source he disputes as improper, a clear condemnation of the payment's legal basis.
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- People and groups discussed
- TotalEnergies, Doug Burgum
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The Dispute Index. "Huffman calls the TotalEnergies settlement "almost certainly unlawful"". First published: 2026-09-28. Last updated: 2026-09-28. https://disputeindex.com/events/3154-rep-jared-huffman-and-rep-jamie-raskin-the