A federal court decided that President Donald Trump’s ban on new wind energy permits is illegal. This ruling is a setback for the administration’s attempts to slow down wind power growth in the US.
The ban started in January, when an executive order stopped federal approval of pending onshore and offshore wind permits while the administration reviewed its process. This caused uncertainty for developers and investors and interrupted both ongoing and planned projects.
New York, along with seventeen other states and a New York-based clean energy group, filed a lawsuit after the Interior Department told Norway’s Equinor to stop work on the Empire Wind 1 project. This offshore wind farm, planned off the coast of New York, is expected to provide power to about 500,000 households.
On Monday, US District Judge Patti B. Saris of Massachusetts overturned the executive order, calling it arbitrary, capricious, and against the law. She said federal agencies did not give a clear reason for changing the policy and could not suspend permit reviews indefinitely without a set timeline or explanation.
New York Attorney General Letitia James welcomed the decision, calling it an important step in the fight against climate change. She said the ruling stopped the administration from blocking several wind projects that are key to clean energy goals.
Although work on Empire Wind has resumed, the states argued that keeping the broader permit freeze hurt the US economy. Other major projects, like the Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind project in New Jersey and the SouthCoast Wind project in Massachusetts, were delayed or put at risk, affecting billions in investment and thousands of megawatts of clean energy. Plans for a transmission line linking New York City’s power grid to offshore wind farms were also stopped.
Some energy analysts warned that the decision may not quickly revive the wind industry, since regulators could still delay or deny permits through long review processes. Trump has led criticism of wind power and, since returning to office, has boosted fossil fuel production, saying he prefers oil and gas over renewables.
