On May 5, 2025, 18 attorneys general filed a lawsuit to end the Trump administration’s arbitrary and indefinite halt on new wind energy development across the country. On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued a sweeping presidential directive suspending all federal approvals for wind energy projects, threatening to undermine a critical source of clean energy and job growth in the United States. The AG coalition asserts that the president’s directive is at odds with years of bipartisan support for offshore and onshore wind energy projects, including during President Trump’s first term. It also directly contradicts the president’s own Executive Orders issued on the same day, which declared a “national energy emergency,” singled out New York and several other states for the country’s lack of energy supply, and called for the expansion of most forms of domestic energy production — but not wind energy.

The attorneys general argue this unilateral halt on wind energy development is harming states’ ability to provide reliable, affordable electricity to their residents. States have a responsibility to meet increasing electricity demand while also mitigating climate harms and reducing pollution caused by fossil fuels. The indefinite halt on federal approvals put state investments and economic benefits from wind energy projects in jeopardy. The administration’s blockade derails key projects already under development, many of which are expected to power millions of homes and support tens of thousands of jobs. In New York alone, wind projects support over 4,400 jobs throughout the state and are expected to create more than 18,000 additional jobs in the coming years. The attorneys general note that the risk of these harms to the industry and the states has risen sharply in recent weeks, as the Trump administration ordered a project off the coast of New York, which had already received federal approval, to immediately stop construction. This wind energy blockade also impedes the states’ ability to meet their energy and climate goals. These are statutory targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and, more specifically, meet target dates for electricity generated by wind power. For example, New York’s Climate Law requires the state to obtain 70% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and 100 percent by 2040. A hearing on the Plaintiff Motion for a Preliminary Injunction was held on June 5, 2025 but no decision has been issued yet.

On June 18, 2025, the district court ruled that the case may continue against the Department of the Interior but that all other defendants were dismissed. On July 3, 2025, the district court issued an opinion dismissing some claims and allowing others to proceed.

This administration is devastating one of our nation’s fastest-growing sources of clean, reliable, and affordable energy. 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. Attorney General Letitia James