Press Release: 5/6/2025
AG Campbell Sues Trump Administration For Halting Development Of Wind Energy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
5/05/2025
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Sydney Heiberger, Press Secretary
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Call Sydney Heiberger, Press Secretary at (617) 727-2543
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Email Sydney Heiberger, Press Secretary at Sydney.Heiberger@mass.gov
BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today joined a coalition of 18 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against the Trump Administration over its unlawful attempt to freeze the development of wind energy.
“Massachusetts has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into offshore wind to ensure our residents have access to well-paying green jobs and reliable, affordable energy that helps meet our clean energy and climate goals,” said AG Campbell. “The President’s attempts to stop homegrown wind energy development directly contradict his claims that there is a growing need for reliable domestic energy. My colleagues and I will continue to challenge this administration’s unlawful actions to chill investment and growth of this critical industry.”
On January 20, President Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum that, among other things, indefinitely halted all federal approvals necessary for the development of offshore and onshore wind energy projects pending federal review. Pursuant to this directive, federal agencies have stopped all permitting and approval activities, and in one case, have even stopped a fully permitted project in New York that had already begun construction. Wind energy is a domestic source of reliable, affordable energy that supports hundreds of thousands of jobs, creates billions of dollars in economic activity and tax payments, and supplies more than 10% of the country’s electricity.
The attorneys general allege that the President’s directive harms their states’ efforts to secure reliable, diversified, and affordable sources of energy to meet their increasing demand for electricity and help reduce emissions of harmful air pollutants, meet clean energy goals, and address climate change. The directive also threatens to thwart the states’ significant investments in wind industry infrastructure, supply chains, and workforce development—investments that already total billions of dollars.
In 2022, Massachusetts passed a law to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions statewide by 2050, in part through the development of renewable energy projects like wind energy. So far, the Commonwealth has three different offshore wind projects in various stages of development which, once constructed, will produce enough electricity to power 1.4 million homes. The Commonwealth also plans to procure additional wind energy to meet its clean energy goals. But due to the President’s directive, any project that has not received all federal approvals cannot proceed, threatening the state’s long-term energy reliability and affordability. In fact, without offshore wind, the cost of energy for New England customers is expected to increase by about 50% in 2050. The indefinite halt on federal approvals also jeopardizes Massachusetts’s investment in the offshore wind industry, which includes more than $330 million invested in infrastructure, workforce training, supply chains, and research and development.
The coalition argues that the President’s directive and federal agencies’ subsequent implementation of it violate the Administrative Procedure Act and other federal laws because they, among other things, provide no reasoned explanation for categorically and indefinitely halting all wind energy development—a sudden change that reverses longstanding federal policy and is inconsistent with recent federal action propping up other forms of energy. The lawsuit also alleges that the abrupt halt on all permitting violates numerous federal statutes that prescribe specific procedures and timelines for federal permitting and approvals—procedures the Administration wholly disregarded in stopping wind-energy development altogether.
In filing this lawsuit, the attorneys general are asking the Court to declare the President’s directive illegal and prevent the Administration from taking any action to delay or prevent wind energy development.
Joining AG Campbell in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington.