WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 A federal judge on Monday struck down President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order blocking wind energy projects, saying the effort to halt virtually all leasing of wind farms on federal lands and waters was \u201carbitrary and capricious\u201d and violates U.S. law. <\/p>\n
Judge Patti Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated Trump\u2019s Jan. 20 executive order<\/a> blocking wind energy projects and declared it unlawful. <\/p>\n Saris ruled in favor of a coalition of state attorneys general from 17 states and Washington, D.C., led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, that challenged Trump\u2019s Day One order<\/a> that paused leasing and permitting for wind energy projects.<\/p>\n Trump has been hostile to renewable energy<\/a>, particularly offshore wind, and prioritizes fossil fuels to produce electricity<\/a>. <\/p>\n Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell hailed the ruling as a victory for green jobs and renewable energy.<\/p>\n \u201cMassachusetts has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into offshore wind, and today, we successfully protected those important investments from the Trump administration\u2019s unlawful order,\u201d Campbell said in a statement.<\/p>\n James said she was grateful the court stepped in \u201cto block the administration\u2019s reckless and unlawful crusade against clean energy.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cAs New Yorkers face rising energy costs, we need more energy sources, not fewer,\u201d James said. \u201cWind energy is good for our environment, our economy, and our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said Monday night that offshore wind projects were given unfair, preferential treatment during the Biden administration while the rest of the energy industry was hindered by burdensome regulations.<\/p>\n \u201cPresident Trump has ended Joe Biden\u2019s war on American energy and unleashed America\u2019s energy dominance to protect our economic and national security,\u201d Rogers said in a statement to The Associated Press. <\/p>\n The coalition that opposed Trump\u2019s order argued that Trump doesn\u2019t have the authority to halt project permitting, and that doing so jeopardizes the states\u2019 economies, energy mix, public health and climate goals.<\/p>\n The coalition includes Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington state and Washington, D.C. They say they\u2019ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars collectively to develop wind energy and even more on upgrading transmission lines to bring wind energy to the electrical grid.<\/p>\n The government argued that the states\u2019 claims amount to nothing more than a policy disagreement over preferences for wind versus fossil fuel energy development that is outside the federal court\u2019s jurisdiction. Justice Department lawyer Michael Robertson said in court that the wind order paused permitting, but didn\u2019t halt it, while Interior Secretary Doug Burgum reviews the environmental impact of wind projects. <\/p>\n The executive order said there were \u201calleged legal deficiencies underlying the federal government\u2019s leasing and permitting\u201d of wind projects under the Biden administration.<\/p>\n A previous judge in the case allowed it to proceed against Burgum, but dismissed an action against Trump and other Cabinet secretaries. Judge William Young allowed the states to proceed with claims that blocking permits for wind energy projects violates the Administrative Procedure Act, which outlines a detailed process for enacting regulations, but not the Constitution.<\/p>\n Wind is the United States\u2019 largest source of renewable energy, providing about 10% of the electricity generated in the nation, according to the American Clean Power Association. <\/p>\n Marguerite Wells, executive director of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York, said wind energy is a key component of powering the nation\u2019s electric grid.<\/p>\n Wind \u201cis currently one of the most cost-effective ways to generate power and is being used successfully not only in the United States, but across the world,\u2019’ she said. \u201cWith this ruling behind us, projects can now be judged on their merits. We thank the attorneys general who helped us get this case over the finish line.\u201d<\/p>\n Kit Kennedy of the Natural Resources Defense Council called the decision a win for consumers, union workers, U.S. businesses, clean air and the climate.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the beginning of its time in office, the Trump administration put a halt to the wind energy projects that are needed to keep utility bills in check and the grid reliable,\u2019’ Kennedy said. <\/p>\n The wind order \u201chas been a devastating blow to workers, electricity customers, and the reliability of the power grid,\u2019’ she said, adding that the Trump administration \u201cshould use this (ruling) as a wake-up call, stop its illegal actions and get out of the way of the expansion of renewable energy.\u2019’<\/p>\n ___ The Associated Press\u2019 climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 A federal judge on Monday struck down President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order blocking wind energy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[99035,72,3229,1594,54,969,99034,19220,246,99037,1595,61,60,5455,66781,48870,85018,99039,15863,99040,4320,99038,15196,99036,1650,30658,82,90332,115,5458,25173,99041],"class_list":{"0":"post-182418","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-andrea-joy-campbell","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-climate","11":"tag-climate-and-environment","12":"tag-courts","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-doug-burgum","15":"tag-energy-industry","16":"tag-environment","17":"tag-executive-orders","18":"tag-general-news","19":"tag-ie","20":"tag-ireland","21":"tag-joe-biden","22":"tag-john-f-kennedy","23":"tag-letitia-james","24":"tag-local-news-for-apple","25":"tag-marguerite-wells","26":"tag-massachusetts","27":"tag-michael-robertson","28":"tag-new-york","29":"tag-new-york-state-government","30":"tag-oregon","31":"tag-patti-saris","32":"tag-politics","33":"tag-rhode-island","34":"tag-science","35":"tag-taylor-rogers","36":"tag-united-states","37":"tag-united-states-government","38":"tag-washington-news","39":"tag-william-young"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}