On Monday, New York Attorney General Letitia James led a group of 17 state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to end the Trump administration’s attempt to stop new developments in wind energy projects across the United States.
On his first day back in office this year, President Trump—who has long had it out for the wind (asserting in January that turbines are “driving whales insane”)—issued a sweeping presidential memorandum that suspended all federal approvals for wind energy projects.
While that memorandum cited President Trump’s desire to “ensure that the United States is able to maintain a robust fishing industry for future generations and provide low cost energy to its citizens,” James and the 17 other attorneys general argue in their suit that blocking new developments in wind energy is directly at odds with the goal, given “the fact that wind energy is a homegrown source of reliable, affordable energy.” They also argue that “numerous comprehensive assessments” have shown that wind energy has minimal adverse effects on the environment.
The lawsuit also points out the contradictory nature of an Executive Order issued the very same day by President Trump, declaring a “national energy emergency.” That order singled out New York State (among others) for the country’s “inadequate” supply of energy and called for the development of a “reliable, diversified, and affordable supply of energy.”
Just last month, the Trump administration halted the development of a major offshore wind farm (more specifically, Empire Wind, which was supposed to go up off the shores of…New York state) over concerns that the Biden administration had approved the project without performing sufficient analysis. In a post on X, Secretary of Interior Doug Burngrum cited Trump’s memorandum as justification for putting a stop to the Empire Wind effort.
While Trump has been a vocal supporter of AI development in the US, representatives for the domestic data center industry warned that the administration’s antagonistic approach to renewables could make powering the energy-hungry tech nearly impossible.
Notably, President Trump received $75 million from oil and gas interests during his 2024 campaign for reelection, according to an analysis by the New York Times.
In a press release issued on Monday, Attorney General James said, “This arbitrary and unnecessary directive threatens the loss of thousands of good-paying jobs and billions in investments, and it is delaying our transition away from the fossil fuels that harm our health and our planet.”
The lawsuit seeks a court order declaring the pause in wind energy projects to be unlawful and barring its implementation. James was joined in filing by the attorneys generals of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and the District of Columbia.
The White House responded to The Verge’s reporting on this lawsuit on Monday, saying that, “Instead of working with President Trump to unleash American energy and lower prices for American families, Democrat Attorneys General are using lawfare to stop the President’s popular energy agenda. Americans in blue states should not have to pay the price of the Democrats’ radical climate agenda.”
