A federal judge in Boston has hit the brakes on parts of the Trump administration’s new permitting rules, giving wind and solar developers a breather in a fast-moving legal fight. On Tuesday, the court issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily blocks the Interior Department from enforcing a memo that critics say routed dozens of project decisions to political appointees and slowed approvals across the country.
U.S. District Judge Denise Casper granted the injunction in a case brought by a coalition of nine advocacy groups and industry trade associations, according to Reuters. The plaintiffs, which include Renew Northeast and the Alliance for Clean Energy New York, argue that a July memorandum forced nearly every step of wind and solar permitting into the hands of senior political officials and in practice stalled projects.
At a March hearing, plaintiffs' lawyer Daron Janis told the court the policy created a “complete bottleneck” that “grinds permitting to a halt,” while the Justice Department countered that Secretary Doug Burgum had statutory authority to tighten oversight and that the trade groups lacked standing to sue, Reuters reported. The injunction is preliminary, which means it simply pauses enforcement while the judge weighs the claims under the Administrative Procedure Act.
What the Interior memo required
The July guidance lays out that dozens of actions, including issuing a notice to proceed, preparing draft and final environmental reviews, conducting preconstruction surveys and finalizing records of decision, must go up the chain for signoff by Secretary Doug Burgum and then review by Deputy Secretary Kate MacGregor, according to reporting and agency documents. The checklist runs to roughly 69 items that need senior approval and drew immediate fire from renewable industry groups for piling on layers of political review. E&E News and a Department of the Interior release outline both the directive and the department’s reasoning for it.
Why developers and states pushed back
Industry groups and several states say the new rules, layered on top of earlier stop-work and suspension orders for offshore projects, have scrambled multibillion-dollar construction plans and put key tax-credit and financing deadlines at risk. Developers, utilities and state attorneys general have launched a series of lawsuits seeking injunctions or consolidation, hoping to get quick rulings that limit damage to construction schedules and supply chains. The Associated Press has chronicled how those cases have produced a mix of early wins and ongoing uncertainty for projects along the East Coast and in other regions.
Legal outlook
The preliminary injunction only freezes enforcement while Judge Casper decides whether Interior’s memo lacked a reasoned explanation and is therefore unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act. A broader set of related lawsuits over Bureau of Ocean Energy Management stop-work and suspension orders is still moving forward and, in several of those cases, judges have already issued temporary orders that let some work resume. Together, the cases show how litigation is reshaping the tempo of clean-energy buildouts, according to a litigation tracker at Just Security.
What comes next
Advocates quickly celebrated the Boston ruling as a crucial, if temporary, reprieve for projects and the workers tied to them. “With this ruling behind us, projects can now be judged on their merits,” one industry advocate said, according to The Associated Press. Interior officials, for their part, maintain that the guidance is intended to ensure federal lands are used efficiently, setting up a longer fight over how fast, and under whose rules, the next wave of large-scale wind and solar projects moves ahead.
