President Donald Trump’s January 20 executive order that effectively blocked offshore wind development in the USA beyond those five projects already under way has been declared unlawful by a US federal judge.
A coalition of 17 states plus the District of Columbia filed suit in early May 2025, stating that they brought the action “to challenge [the] unlawful presidential memorandum halting federal approvals of wind energy development and to enjoin federal agencies’ implementation of that memorandum.”
In her December 8 ruling, Judge Patti B. Saris, US district judge for the district of Massachusetts wrote that “the Wind Order constitutes a final agency action that is arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law. Accordingly, the Court allows plaintiffs’ motions, denies the agency defendants’ motion, and declares unlawful and vacates the Wind Order.”
In reaching her decision Saris noted that the Wind Order constitutes a change of course from decades of agencies’ issuing (or denying) permits related to wind energy projects. She added that the agency defendants were required, at minimum, “to provide a reasoned explanation for the change” and to “display awareness that [they were] changing position”.
Saris also noted that the “agency defendants candidly concede that the sole factor they considered in deciding to stop issuing permits was the president’s direction to do so”, noting that the defendants had not reasonably considered the relevant issues and reasonably explained their decision to implement the Wind Order.
