The federal district court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that federal agencies’ orders pausing all wind energy authorizations (the “Wind Order”) were arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law. The agencies issued the Wind Order to implement a memorandum issued by President Trump on January 20, 2025. As threshold matters, the court found that both the state plaintiffs and plaintiff-intervenor Alliance for Clean Energy New York (ACE NY) had constitutional standing and that their claims were within the zone of interests of the statutory provisions at issue, which set forth timelines and standards for wind energy permitting. On the merits, the court found that the Wind Order was a final agency action subject to judicial review and that it was both arbitrary and capricious as well as contrary to provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act imposing a nondiscretionary duty on agencies to pass upon matters presented to them and to complete any mandated adjudicatory hearings within a reasonable time. The court rejected the agencies’ argument that arbitrary-and-capricious review did not apply because they merely took action as directed by the President. The court vacated the Wind Order in its entirety.

Challenge to a presidential memorandum that halted federal approvals for offshore and onshore wind energy projects, as well as agency actions implementing the memorandum.

New York v. Trump

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Massachusetts Federal Court Ruled that Federal Pause on Wind Energy Authorizations Was Unlawful

Filed

United States of America

Massachusetts

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Massachusetts Federal Court Ruled that Federal Pause on Wind Energy Authorizations Was Unlawful

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance