Less than a year after President Donald Trump banned new wind projects, a federal judge ruled the president’s executive order was illegal.
US District Judge Patti Saris said Monday the order is “arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law,” siding with more than a dozen US states and a clean energy group that had challenged it.
The president’s directive — issued in January, hours after he returned to the White House for a second term — effectively halted federal approvals of wind farms on land and sea pending a federal review. The order froze dozens of clean energy projects, including massive installations planned off the Eastern seaboard. Developers warned of job impacts and billions of dollars in lost investments.
Trump’s campaign against renewables — and offshore wind, in particular — has whipsawed industries boosted by former President Joe Biden. Whereas Biden pushed to green US electric grids, Trump has moved to prop up traditional fuels, including natural gas, coal and nuclear that are capable of providing round-the-clock power at a time of surging electric demand from data centers.
At the time, Trump said the executive order was necessary to address “legal deficiencies” in the government’s approval of both off and onshore wind projects. His administration has said in court filings it may revoke permits for several offshore wind projects from Massachusetts to Maryland.
“Under Joe Biden’s Green New Scam, offshore wind projects were given unfair, preferential treatment while the rest of the energy industry was hindered by burdensome regulations,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said Monday in a statement.
Meanwhile, environmental groups hailed the court’s ruling as a win for customers, union workers, businesses and the environment.
“The administration should use this as a wake up call, stop its illegal actions and get out of the way of the expansion of renewable energy,” said Kit Kennedy, managing director of power, climate and energy at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Still the court decision may be no more than just a symbolic victory for the wind industry. There’s nothing compelling the administration to issue new leases or approvals for wind projects, including offshore wind farms it has moved to block.
“We view the ruling as positive for offshore wind proponents, but we are not convinced the decision sufficiently supplants the actions the Trump Administration has taken to constrain offshore wind,” ClearView Energy Partners said in a note Tuesday. “We are skeptical that this loss in court can inspire the Administration to change its oppositional posture.”
The coalition that opposed Trump’s order argued that Trump doesn’t have the authority to halt project permitting, and that doing so jeopardizes the states’ economies, energy mix, public health and climate goals.
The coalition includes Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington state and Washington, D.C. They say they’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars collectively to develop wind energy and even more on upgrading transmission lines to bring wind energy to the electrical grid.
Wind is the United States’ largest source of renewable energy, providing about 10% of the electricity generated in the nation, according to the American Clean Power Association.
Marguerite Wells, executive director of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York, said wind energy is a key component of powering the nation’s electric grid.
Wind “is currently one of the most cost-effective ways to generate power and is being used successfully not only in the United States, but across the world,’’ she said. “With this ruling behind us, projects can now be judged on their merits. We thank the attorneys general who helped us get this case over the finish line.”