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US court overrules Trump ban on new wind energy permits
17/12/2025
News
In January 2025, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order which froze federal approval of offshore and onshore wind permits, hitting renewables projects that were already underway. In a surprise move, the ruling has been judged unlawful by a US District Court judge.
Trump’s action led to 17 states and a New York-based clean energy group suing the US government, citing the adverse impact of the ‘stop work order’ on the Empire Wind 1 project – a 816 MW wind farm due to be located off the coast of New York, and other projects.
The new court judgement also detailed how Trump’s wind order has delayed key wind projects including the Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind project (1,510 MW capacity) offshore New Jersey, and the SouthCoast Wind Project (up to 2,400 MW) offshore Massachusetts. Plans for a grid transmission line from New York to offshore wind farms have also been curtailed.
On Monday 8 December, Massachusetts District Court Judge Patti B Saris declared that Trump’s order was ‘arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law’ because the agencies failed to explain why a total suspension was necessary or acknowledge the reliant interests of states and developers who have invested billions, noting it could not find a rational relationship between the ‘cursory’ reasoning in the Wind Memo and the ‘immense scope of the moratorium’, according to US marine energy group Oceantic Network.
Judge Saris said that the federal agencies had ‘failed to provide a reasoned explanation for the change and justification for the new policy’, which had put permit approvals on hold while the US administration conducted a wider review of approval practices.
The Court also found the pause ‘contrary to law’, ruling that an indefinite halt on decision-making violates the Administrative Procedure Act’s requirement that agencies conclude matters within a reasonable time, stating 'not acting at all is not a lawful option,’ Oceantic reported. On social media, New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the lawsuit, described the court’s ruling as ‘a big victory in our fight to keep tackling the climate crisis.’ And she added: ‘We won our lawsuit and stopped the Trump administration from blocking an array of new wind energy projects.’
Though the Trump administration has allowed work to resume on the Empire Wind 1 project (which is due to come online in 2027), the wider freeze on permits for other projects is understood to be hitting the US economy as developers and financiers back away from earlier plans. In addition, Section One of the January executive action, which previously paused all wind energy leasing activities, is still in effect.
In response to the ruling, a White House statement reported by the said: ‘Offshore wind projects were given unfair, preferential treatment under the Biden administration, while the rest of the energy industry was hindered by burdensome regulations.’
Timothy Fox of Washington DC-based research firm ClearView Energy Partners was reported as saying: ‘The court ruling is more symbolic than substantive, implying that the applications need to be reviewed. Officials could still deny permits or bog down applications in lengthy reviews,’ he told the BBC.
However, Oceantic CEO Liz Burdock said: 'Overturning the unlawful blanket halt to offshore wind permitting activities is needed to achieve our nation’s energy and economic priorities of bringing more power online quickly, improving grid reliability, and driving billions of new American steel manufacturing and shipbuilding investments. We thank the Attorneys General and the Alliance for Clean Energy New York for taking this case forward to protect American business interests against the politicization of our energy sector.’
