17 States Sue Trump Over Halt to Wind Energy Projects

A group of attorneys general from 17 states, along with the District of Columbia, is suing the Trump administration over the president’s move to suspend leasing and permitting of new U.S. wind energy projects.

The lawsuit filed May 5 (read the 101-page document here) seeks a court order that declares Trump’s action unlawful. The Democratic-led states want to bar agencies, including the Interior Department, Commerce Department, and Environmental Protection Agency, from implementing an indefinite pause for wind projects.

The suit was filed in federal court in Boston, Massachusetts, and accuses Trump of exceeding his authority in calling for a halt to federal government approval of wind energy installations. Trump has been vocal about his disdain for wind power, and issued a presidential memorandum on Jan. 20 of this year—the first day of his second term—to halt offshore wind lease sales and stop the issuance of permits, leases, and loans for both onshore and offshore wind projects, pending federal review.

“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 10% of the country’s electricity,” the lawsuit reads.

The lawsuit contends that the administration violated federal administrative law by not offering detailed justification for the suspension. New York Attorney General Letitia James in a statement said, “This administration is devastating one of our nation’s fastest-growing sources of clean, reliable and affordable energy.” Trump recently called for a halt to construction of the ongoing Empire Wind offshore project, located in waters off Long Island. Vestas CEO Henrik Andersen, a partner in that project led by Equinor, in a conference call on May 6 called the administration’s move “unprecedented.”

Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general, said, “The Trump administration’s directive to halt the development of offshore wind energy is illegal.” Bonta’s office said California has five federal offshore wind leases.

‘Thousands’ of Jobs Threatened

James in her statement said Trump’s action threatens “thousands of good-paying jobs and billions in investments.” She said the move “delaying our transition away from the fossil fuels that harm our health and our planet.” Wind power provides about 10% of U.S. electricity, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said the Democratic attorneys general are “using lawfare to stop the president’s popular energy agenda.” A PBS News/NPR/Marist College poll released last week, taken as Trump completed the 100th day of his second term, said 45% of U.S. adults give the president an “F” grade for overall performance, including 80% of Democrats and 49% of those who consider themselves independents. Just 23% of those polled, including 54% of Republicans, gave Trump an “A” grade. A Climate Opinion poll released in March of this year said two-thirds of Americans support a transition to cleaner forms of energy, including wind power.

Rogers in a statement about the lawsuit said, “The American people voted for the president to restore America’s energy dominance, and Americans in blue states should not have to pay the price of the Democrats’ radical climate agenda.” Trump has said his administration supports the use of more fossil fuels, and has said he wants utilities and other power generators to reopen closed coal-fired power plants.

The Interior Department in a statement said that agency is committed to “overseeing public lands and waters for the benefit of all Americans, while prioritizing fiscal responsibility for the American people.”

The top four states for wind energy production, according to government data as of February 2025, are Texas (nearly 26% of U.S. output), Iowa (nearly 11%), Oklahoma (8%), and Kansas (just more than 6%). Texas, Iowa, and Oklahoma are led by Republican governors.

A Campaign Promise to Stop Wind Industry

Trump during last year’s presidential campaign promised to stop the offshore wind industry, which he said is too expensive and harms wildlife. He said wind projects “ruin your beautiful landscapes” in announcing the pause in January. A Scottish court in 2015 ruled against Trump’s move to block an offshore wind farm in Aberdeen Bay off Scotland, which Trump opposed because he said the “monstrous” project would ruin the view from his golf club at Menie, north of Aberdeen.

Trump’s January memorandum led Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in April to direct the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management—which oversees offshore wind projects—to order Norwegian energy firm Equinor to halt construction on Empire Wind.

The lawsuit filed Monday says that Trump’s move is detrimental to efforts to help the U.S. diversify its energy sources. The attorneys general say Trump is jeopardizing billions of dollars already invested in the U.S. wind industry, and also harms efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit said the agencies implementing Trump’s order have not explained the reasoning for changing longstanding U.S. policies that support wind energy development. They said the move ignores government findings that wind projects can be built with minimal adverse effects on the environment. They also contend that Congress has not authorized the president to halt wind projects, and they say the agencies implementing the pause would be exceeding their legal authority under several U.S. laws, including the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act, along with the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.