A federal judge on Monday struck down President Donald Trump’s sweeping ban on new wind power projects in the U.S., a major victory for an industry that has been singled out by the White House since the administration’s first day.
Judge Patti Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that Trump’s ban is “arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law,” tossing out the president’s action in its entirety.
Trump issued a memorandum on Jan. 20 halting permits and leases for offshore and onshore wind farms, pending federal review. Saris said that federal agencies had failed to provide a reasoned explanation for such a drastic change in U.S. policy.
Seventeen states led by New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump in May to overturn the president’s ban. They argued it created “an existential threat to the wind industry.”
“This is a big victory in our fight to keep tackling the climate crisis and protect one of our best sources of clean, reliable, and affordable energy,” James said in a post Monday on social media platform X.
States in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic in particular have been pursuing offshore wind projects to meet future energy demand as they seek to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement that “offshore wind projects were given unfair, preferential treatment while the rest of the energy industry was hindered by burdensome regulations.”