A federal judge in Massachusetts on Tuesday struck down several Trump administration actions that wind and solar developers said slowed clean-energy development, including a rule requiring personal approval by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum for solar and wind projects on federal lands and waters. Chief Judge Denise J. Casper of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued the preliminary injunction after finding that a coalition of developers and related groups was likely to succeed on the merits of its legal challenges and that delaying implementation could cause irreparable harm.
Casper’s ruling halted policies the plaintiffs said ran afoul of federal law while the case proceeds. The court action came as clean-energy developers sought to move projects quickly enough to take advantage of federal tax credits that they said are set to expire, according to the lawsuit described in the reporting.
The Interior Department previously said in July that solar and wind projects on federal lands and waters would require Burgum’s personal sign-off, a step it said was intended to end what officials described as preferential treatment for those technologies under the Biden administration. Burgum’s order authorized him to conduct “elevated review” of renewable projects, spanning proposed leases and rights of way through construction and operational plans, grants, and “biological opinions,” the reporting said.
The coalition that sued in December argued that Burgum’s actions had the “goal and effect of destroying solar and wind energy” proposals in the United States. The developers and groups alleged that Burgum favored fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas and that he intentionally changed “longstanding agency processes and legal determinations” to delay or prevent the permitting and construction of wind and solar facilities, according to the lawsuit summary.
The legal challenge targeted six final agency actions, which the plaintiffs said placed wind and solar technologies into “second-class status.” In addition to seeking to stop the policies, the coalition said the broader permitting approach would hamper projects at a time when power demand is rising and when federal incentives are time-limited.
An Interior spokesperson did not comment on the litigation but said Tuesday that the department does not comment on cases in court and added that “America sets the global standard for energy production,” citing that it is done “cleaner, safer, and more reliably than anywhere in the world.”
The case also unfolded against the backdrop of Trump’s second term focus on fossil-fuel energy production, with critics saying those policy shifts continue U.S. reliance on more polluting sources. The reporting said Congress approved a law last year that phases out tax credits for wind, solar and other renewable energy while enhancing federal support for coal, oil and natural gas, and that Trump issued an executive order shortly after signing the law that further restricts subsidies for what he called “expensive and unreliable energy policies from the Green New Scam.”
In a joint statement after the ruling, the plaintiffs said the decision is the first step toward restarting projects they said were impacted by the administration’s actions. The statement said, “Clean energy is fast, affordable and here to stay,” and added that the groups “look forward to getting back to work and restarting the impacted wind and solar projects nationwide.”
The plaintiffs listed were the Alliance for Clean Energy New York, MAREC Action, Southern Renewable Energy Association, Clean Grid Alliance, Interwest Energy Alliance, Renewable Northwest, Carolinas Clean Energy Business Association, RENEW Northeast and Green Energy Consumers Alliance. Kit Kennedy, managing director for power at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the administration keeps trying new ways to block projects needed to power the grid and that courts keep striking those attempts down, adding: “The administration should take the hint and stop these illegal attacks on projects that will help meet surging electricity demand and bring down costs for consumers.”