States sue Trump administration for blocking the development of wind energy
A coalition of state attorneys general filed a lawsuit Monday against President Donald Trump s attempt to stop the evolution of wind potency Attorneys general from states and Washington D C are challenging an e xecutive order Trump signed during his first day in office pausing approvals permits and loans for all wind force projects both onshore and offshore They say Trump doesn t have the authority to unilaterally shut down the permitting process and he s jeopardizing maturation of a power source critical to the states economic vitality capacity mix citizens wellbeing and conditions goals They re asking a federal judge to declare the order unlawful and stop federal agencies from implementing it 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 vitality and our planet New York Attorney General Letitia James who is leading the coalition declared in a comment Trump vowed during the campaign to end the offshore wind industry if he returned to the White House His order reported there were alleged legal deficiencies underlying the federal executive s leasing and permitting of wind projects and it directed the Interior secretary to review wind leasing and permitting practices for federal waters and lands The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Massachusetts The Biden administration saw offshore wind as a state change key setting national goals holding lease sales and approving nearly a dozen commercial-scale projects Trump is reversing those vigor policies He s boosting fossil fuels such as oil natural gas and coal which cause context change arguing it s necessary for the U S to have the lowest-cost resource and electricity in the world The Trump administration took a more aggressive step against wind in April when it ordered the Norwegian company Equinor to halt construction on Empire Wind a fully permitted project located southeast of Long Island New York that is about complete Interior Secretary Doug Burgum reported it appeared the Biden administration rushed the approval Equinor went through a seven-year permitting process before starting to build Empire Wind last year to provide power to New York homes Equinor is considering legal options The Norwegian cabinet owns a majority stake in Equinor Wind provides about of the electricity generated in the United States making it the nation s largest source of renewable potency The attorneys general argue that Trump s order is at odds with years of bipartisan sponsorship for wind potency and contradicts his own declaration of a national vitality urgency which called for expanding domestic power production The coalition includes Arizona California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Illinois Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota New Jersey New Mexico New York Oregon Rhode Island Washington and Washington D C They say they ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars collectively to develop wind strength and even more on upgrading transmission lines to bring wind potency to the electrical grid Large ocean-based wind farms are the linchpin of state plans to shift to renewable potential particularly in populous East Coast states with limited land The nation s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm opened a year ago a -turbine wind farm called South Fork Wind miles kilometers east of Montauk Point New York A smaller wind farm operates near Block Island in waters controlled by the state of Rhode Island Massachusetts has three offshore wind projects in various stages of maturation include Vineyard Wind The state has invested in offshore wind to ensure residents have access to well-paying green jobs and reliable affordable vitality Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell declared The Trump administration has also suspended federal funding for floating offshore wind research in Maine and revoked a permit for a proposed offshore wind project in New Jersey Elsewhere political leaders are trying to rapidly increase wind vigor U K Prime Minister Keir Starmerannounced a major financing in wind power in April while hosting an international summit on potential prevention Nova Scotia plans to offer leases for five gigawatts of offshore wind strength by Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston revealed in Virginia last week at an Oceantic Organization conference
