Democratic states sue Trump admin for blocking wind energy projects
Erik Uebelacker
(CN) — New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday led a coalition of more than a dozen Democratic state attorneys general, who filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for halting wind energy development throughout the United States.
“This administration is devastating one of our nation’s fastest-growing sources of clean, reliable, and affordable energy,” James said in a statement Monday. “This arbitrary and unnecessary directive threatens the loss of thousands of good-paying jobs and billions in investments, and it is delaying our transition away from the fossil fuels that harm our health and our planet.”
On the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump issued an executive action to immediately suspend all federal approvals for wind energy products, claiming the administration needs to conduct a more thorough review of the economic and environmental impacts of these projects.
“This withdrawal temporarily prevents consideration of any area in the OCS for any new or renewed wind energy leasing for the purposes of generation of electricity or any other such use derived from the use of wind,” Trump said in his Jan. 20 order. “This withdrawal does not apply to leasing related to any other purposes such as, but not limited to, oil, gas, minerals, and environmental conservation.”
Trump’s directive was immediately criticized by climate groups and green energy proponents, who argue that adding red tape to projects like this unnecessarily slows the country’s transition to clean, renewable energy.
The suing states, which in addition to New York include Massachusetts, California, Illinois and at least 10 others, claim that the administration’s directive flies in the face of years of bipartisan legislative support for offshore and onshore wind energy products.
They say that Trump’s Jan. 20 order, which they refer to as the “Wind Directive” in their lawsuit Monday, threatens tens of thousands of jobs, the loss of which could have a devastating impact on the states’ local economies.
“The Wind Directive has stopped most wind-energy development in its tracks, despite the fact that wind energy is a homegrown source of reliable, affordable energy that supports hundreds of thousands of jobs, creates billions of dollars in economic activity and tax payments, and supplies more than ten percent of the country’s electricity,” the states claimed in their lawsuit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts.
They also claim that it defies another one of Trump’s own executive orders, which declared a national emergency on the United States’ lack of energy supply and called for a production boost on domestic energy production — just not wind energy. In that executive order, Trump announced measures to encourage the development of “a reliable, diversified, and affordable supply of energy,” but notably excluded wind energy from its definitions, despite it meeting those very standards, according to the states.
Meanwhile, Trump has issued multiple directives to bolster the coal industry, leading the states to believe that his administration is unfairly targeting wind energy without reason from multiple angles. Last month, the Interior Department ordered a stop to a major offshore wind product that would have powered more than 500,000 New York homes.
They say that the Trump administration has offered no “detailed justification to explain the abrupt change in longstanding federal policy supporting the development of wind energy.”
“Nor have Agency Defendants provided any explanation for departing — with the President’s newly imposed extra-statutory review requirement — from past findings, based on numerous comprehensive assessments, that wind projects can proceed with minimal adverse effects on the environment and other interests,” the states added.
The states are seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the Trump administration from enforcing its unilateral freeze on wind energy development. Named defendants in their lawsuit include the Department of Energy and Secretary Chris Wright, the Department of the Interior and Secretary Doug Burgum, and Trump himself.
Monday’s lawsuit is one of several dozen filed by state attorneys general against the Trump administration for its unprecedented bid for power over federally approved directives. Trump has fired back at some of the states for defying his directives. Last week, he sued New York and Vermont for imposing “excessive” environmental regulations against fossil fuel companies.