Attorney General Kathy Jennings and a coalition of 18 attorneys general have won their lawsuit against the Trump Administration over its unlawful order to freeze all federal permitting of wind energy projects.   

In May, the coalition filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s decision to indefinitely halt all federal approvals necessary for the development of offshore and onshore wind energy projects pending federal review. On December 7, 2025 a federal judge in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated those actions, ruling that they were arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law.  

“It is almost unbelievable that this Administration would choose to make energy more expensive for Americans during an affordability crisis, but that’s exactly what they did,” said Attorney General Kathy Jennings. “Their actions were bad for consumers, bad for the environment, and plainly against the law. I’m thrilled that we stopped them in their tracks.” 

On January 20, President Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum that, among other things, indefinitely froze all federal approvals needed for the development of wind energy projects pending federal review. Pursuant to this directive, federal agencies stopped all permitting and approval activities.   

In their lawsuit, the attorneys general alleged that the federal agencies’ actions harmed 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 agencies’ actions also threatened to thwart billions of dollars of states’ investments in wind industry infrastructure, supply chains, and workforce development.   

The coalition argued that federal agencies’ actions violated the Administrative Procedure Act and other federal laws because the agencies, among other things, provided no reasoned explanation for categorically and indefinitely halting all wind energy approvals. The lawsuit also argued that the abrupt halt on all permitting violated 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 addition to this case, the Attorney General Jennings is also championing wind power at the state level, filing an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in early November challenging the abrupt cancellation of a fully permitted offshore wind power project off the coast of Delaware and Maryland that would have delivered cheaper and cleaner energy to Delawareans. The U.S. Wind case is part the Trump Administration’s coordinated attack on offshore wind projects. The federal government has also issued stop-work orders or attempted to revoke final approvals for approved—and in some cases partially built—wind projects in New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. 

AG Jennings was joined in this matter the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington.   

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