Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a coalition of 18 attorneys general, today filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the unlawful attempt to freeze the development of wind energy.
Wind energy is a homegrown source of reliable, affordable energy that supports hundreds of thousands of jobs, creates billions of dollars in economic activity and tax payments and supplies more than 10% of the country’s electricity.
“Wind energy is a key component in Illinois’ transition to a renewable energy future,” Raoul said. “The decision by the Trump administration to effectively halt all wind energy development is illegal and baseless, and I will continue to join with my fellow attorneys general to push back against the president’s unlawful actions.”
On January 20, President Trump issued a memorandum that, among other things, indefinitely halted all federal approvals necessary for the development of offshore and onshore wind energy projects pending federal review. Pursuant to this directive, federal agencies have stopped all permitting and approval activities, and in one case, have even stopped a fully permitted project in New York that had already begun construction.
In their lawsuit, Raoul and the coalition allege that President Trump’s directive harms their states’ efforts to secure reliable, diversified and affordable sources of energy to meet the increasing demand for electricity as well as to help reduce emissions of harmful air pollutants, meet clean energy goals and address climate change. The directive also threatens to thwart the states’ significant investments in wind industry infrastructure, supply chains and workforce development – investments that total billions of dollars.
Illinois is one of the top states in the country for producing renewable energy from wind, and even more development of wind power in Illinois is planned for the near future.
Raoul and the coalition argue that the president’s directive and federal agencies’ subsequent implementation of it violate the Administrative Procedure Act and other federal laws because they, among other things, provide no reasoned explanation for categorically and indefinitely halting all wind energy development. The decision marks a sudden change that reverses longstanding federal policy and is inconsistent with recent federal action.
The lawsuit also alleges that the abrupt halt on all permitting violates numerous federal statutes that prescribe specific procedures and timelines for federal permitting and approvals, procedures the administration wholly disregarded in stopping wind-energy development altogether. Raoul and the coalition are asking the court to declare the president’s directive illegal and prevent the administration from taking any action to delay or prevent wind energy development.
Joining Raoul in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington.
