A coalition of 18 states sued the Trump administration on Monday to try to permanently block Trump’s complete halt on all offshore wind energy development.
The Democratic attorneys general, led by Massachusetts and New York, argued in a roughly 100-page complaint that the president’s attacks on the industry violated a litany of federal laws and are already causing significant economic harm across the country.
The Trump administration halted all permitting for new offshore wind projects shortly after taking office, a move that hobbled the already-struggling industry. The Interior Department then ordered in mid-April that all work cease on one of the few projects already under construction: Empire Wind, a large farm off the coast of New York that was scheduled to deliver much-needed electricity to New York City beginning in 2026.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum justified the stop-work order by alleging that the Biden administration “rushed through its approval” for the project.
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Industry experts and state leaders in New York saw the Empire Wind freeze as significantly more surprising and aggressive than the initial Trump executive order, and it drew immediate condemnation from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who until that point had tried a more conciliatory tone with the administration. New York City has limited options for importing new sources of electricity and faces increased risks of a shortfall over the coming decades, a problem that the Empire Wind project was intended to help alleviate.
In the Monday complaint, the states asked a judge in the Massachusetts District Court to issue a preliminary injunction that would stop the administration from implementing Trump’s executive order on offshore wind.
The White House accused the attorneys general of “lawfare” against Trump.
“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,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in an email. “The American people voted for the President to restore America’s energy dominance, and Americans in blue states should not have to pay the price of the Democrats’ radical climate agenda.”
The Department of Justice declined to comment; the Department of the Interior did not respond to a request for comment.
The suit lists dozens of states’ investments in the wind industry and the changes to construction projects, jobs, and economic commitments that Trump’s orders have already wrought.
New York, for example, alleged in the complaint that the state has been forced to delay its planned construction of a new terminal in Staten Island because the Trump administration has refused to consider applications for the necessary construction permits. The terminal’s construction is supposed to be funded in part by a significant federal grant secured by Sen. Chuck Schumer in 2022.
“That delay is not just holding up the project, but also jeopardizing the Terminal’s ability to use the $48 million grant,” the attorneys general wrote in the complaint.
Many of the states listed in the complaint also have zero-emissions laws from their state legislatures, requirements that are forcing states to find emissions-free sources of energy. Offshore wind, while very expensive, is one of the few larger emissions-free options for many coastal states. The complaint repeatedly alleged that the administration’s prohibitions on development will seriously cripple efforts to achieve emissions reductions goals, from Maryland to Maine to California and between.
The administration has also attacked offshore wind through other avenues, including ordering that all work stop on a Department of Energy-funded- advanced research project on floating offshore wind in Maine, NOTUS previously reported.
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Anna Kramer is a reporter at NOTUS.
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