A coalition of 19 state Attorneys General* announced that they have moved to join a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and Secretary Pete Hegseth, alongside other senior DoD officials for blocking the advancement of more than 100 wind projects across the U.S. by refusing to carry out routine national security reviews of the projects.

While federal law requires the DoD to review proposed wind projects for potential national security concerns, the suit notes that the agency stopped moving projects through this process, effectively blocking the projects, and argues that the DoD move forms part of the Trump administration’s “war on wind energy.”

The Trump administration has made a series of moves to stop the development of renewable energy projects, and wind energy projects in particular, starting with a Presidential Memorandum signed by Trump on his first day in office, indefinitely halting all federal approvals for wind energy projects. The order was struck down by a U.S. federal court, which ruled that it was “arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law.” More recently, the administration paused the leases for all large-scale offshore wind projects under construction in the U.S. on national security grounds, and has announced a series of deals to pay offshore wind developers to redirect their investments into U.S. gas and power projects.

The AG’s statement to the court said:

“The Wind Freeze is not just bureaucratic delay, but a concerted decision by DoD to stop the wind project reviews that are necessary for the FAA to complete its own project determinations.”

In their intervention notice, the AGs argue that the DoD freeze violates federal law, and that it causes the states harm by interfering with their authority over electricity generation and by constraining energy supply as demand increases, which they said drives up the cost of energy, threatens grid reliability, and jeopardizes jobs and tax revenues. The complaint estimates that the freeze has blocked more than 100 projects, with a total capacity of nearly 30 GW.

In the complaint, the states ask the court to strike down the DoD’s “wind freeze” policy, and to order the agency to resume its review process for the projects.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said:

“It is no secret that the Trump Administration is doing everything it can to undermine wind energy projects. Instead of expanding energy supply and helping drive electricity prices down, the Administration is blocking new clean, affordable energy generation to the power grid.”

Click here to access the AGs’ motion.

* The motion was led by the AGs of Illinois, New York and Oregon, and also included Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Washington.

Photo credit: Air Force Staff Sgt. Madelyn Keech, DOW