Attorney General Neronha, coalition secure victory preventing Trump Administration from halting wind energy permitting
Published on Tuesday, December 09, 2025
Attorney General Peter F. Neronha and a coalition of 18 attorneys general won their lawsuit against the Trump Administration over its unlawful order to freeze all federal permitting of wind energy projects.
In May, the coalition filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s decision to indefinitely halt all federal approvals necessary for the development of offshore and onshore wind energy projects pending federal review. Today, a federal judge in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated those actions, ruling that they were arbitrary and capricious, and contrary to law.
“The Trump Administration cannot cancel clean energy projects just because they believe doing so is politically expedient, and yesterday’s win reaffirms this,” said Attorney General Neronha. “The truth is, Americans rely on their leadership to embrace clean, affordable energy solutions to curb the harmful effects of climate change and the increasingly volatile costs of fossil fuels. Rhode Islanders and Americans everywhere continue to pay the price, quite literally, for a collective hesitancy in embracing clean energy infrastructure. And we certainly aren’t going to stand by while the President arbitrarily attempts to curb what progress we’ve made. We’ve fought him here and won; we’ve fought him over his unlawful attempt to cancel the Revolution Wind project and we are winning; and we will continue to fight where this Administration causes harm to the American people.”
On January 20, President Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum that, among other things, indefinitely froze all federal approvals needed for the development of wind energy projects pending federal review. Pursuant to this directive, federal agencies stopped all permitting and approval activities.
In their lawsuit, the attorneys general alleged that the federal agencies’ actions harmed their states’ efforts to secure reliable, diversified, and affordable sources of energy to meet their increasing demand for electricity and help reduce emissions of harmful air pollutants, meet clean energy goals, and address climate change. The agencies’ actions also threatened to thwart billions of dollars of states’ investments in wind industry infrastructure, supply chains, and workforce development.
The coalition argued that federal agencies’ actions violated the Administrative Procedure Act and other federal laws because the agencies provided no reasoned explanation for categorically and indefinitely halting all wind energy approvals. The lawsuit also argued that the abrupt halt on all permitting violated numerous federal statutes that prescribe specific procedures and timelines for federal permitting and approvals – procedures the Administration wholly disregarded in stopping wind-energy development altogether.
Attorney General Neronha was joined in this matter the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington.
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