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Trump ban on wind energy permits 'unlawful', court rules

December 9, 2025

A federal court has struck down President Trump's executive order that halted all new wind energy permits, ruling the ban was unlawful and lacked proper justification. The order, signed in January, had frozen both offshore and onshore wind project approvals nationwide, prompting seventeen states and a clean energy organization to file suit against the administration. Judge Patti B Saris determined that federal agencies failed to provide adequate reasoning for the policy change and couldn't indefinitely suspend permit reviews without a clear timeline.

Who is affected

  • 17 states led by New York that filed the lawsuit
  • New York-based clean energy group (plaintiff)
  • Norway's Equinor (developer of Empire Wind 1 project)
  • Potential 500,000 homes that would be powered by Empire Wind 1
  • Developers and financiers of wind energy projects
  • Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind project in New Jersey
  • SouthCoast Wind project in Massachusetts
  • New York City power grid users
  • Wildlife (cited by Trump as endangered by wind turbines)

What action is being taken

  • Federal agencies are required to resume reviewing wind permit applications (as ordered by the court ruling)
  • The Empire Wind construction work has resumed (allowed by the Trump administration before the ruling)

Why it matters

  • This ruling is significant because it addresses the legality of executive actions that dramatically alter environmental and energy policy without proper administrative justification. The decision affects billions of dollars in planned economic investment, thousands of megawatts of clean energy generation, and the broader trajectory of America's renewable energy transition and climate crisis response. The freeze had already caused developers and financiers to retreat from projects, demonstrating how policy uncertainty can chill an entire industry sector even before projects are permanently blocked.

What's next

  • Federal agencies must resume considering wind permit applications
  • The Empire Wind project is expected to take two years to complete and be fully operational by the end of 2027

Read full article from source: BBC