President Donald Trump has said that he will go after states that have policies to address climate change or reduce greenhouse gas emissions. On Monday, 17 states and the District of Columbia returned the favor by filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its anti-wind energy policies.
Under Trump, who promised to implement a policy "where no windmills are being built," the federal government has bolstered fossil fuel projects and deterred renewable energy development. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management recently halted the construction of an offshore wind project that would power 500,000 homes, whose federal lease was approved in 2017 under the first Trump administration. The Environmental Protection Agency has also rescinded Clean Air Act permits for a New Jersey offshore wind project, which had "devoted extensive time and resources to follow a complex, multi-year permitting process, resulting in final project approvals that conform with the law," according to the project's developer.
The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, challenges a Day 1 executive order signed by the president to indefinitely halt federal leasing for offshore wind energy projects. The order was signed the same day that Trump declared a national energy emergency to address America's "insufficient energy production." The states are asking a federal judge to "declare the order unlawful and stop federal agencies from implementing it," reports the Associated Press.
