A federal judge on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from enforcing a series of permitting policies that wind and solar energy industry groups say have hindered the development of new energy generation projects.
Chief U.S. District Judge Denise Casper in Boston issued a preliminary injunction sought by nine advocacy groups and industry trade associations that argued the administration had imposed unlawful roadblocks that have halted the development of wind and solar energy projects nationwide.
The judge said the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in showing the Department of the Interior and other agencies adopted a series of unlawful policies that had led to renewable energy developers canceling or delaying numerous wind and solar projects nationwide.
Her ruling applies to members of the plaintiff organizations, which include RENEW Northeast and Alliance for Clean Energy New York. A lawyer for the groups did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Interior Department also did not respond to a request for comment.
The ruling was the latest in a series of judicial rebukes to the Trump administration’s efforts to block federal approvals for wind energy projects or stop work on multibillion-dollar offshore wind farms under construction on the East Coast.
