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A federal judge on Monday struck down President Donald Trump's order blocking new wind projects on national public lands and waters, calling it "arbitrary and capricious." U.S. District Judge Patti Saris found that the administration failed to provide a reasoned explanation for freezing billions of dollars in projects, and said that the indefinite pause violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
A coalition of 17 state attorneys general sued, saying Trump's order jeopardizes local economies and public health. Government lawyers argued that the day-one executive order was merely a "pause" on new permitting that allowed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to review wind projects.
Justice department attorneys "candidly concede that the sole factor they considered in deciding to stop issuing permits was the President’s direction to do so," Saris wrote.
It's not clear whether the ruling will have a significant impact on future wind projects, however. The New York Times points out that courts generally can't compel federal agencies to approve new projects.
The dirty truth about oil and gas drilling in New Mexico
In the latest episode of CWP's podcast, The Landscape, Kate and Aaron are joined by filmmaker Annie Ersinghaus, rancher Don Schreiber, and Gail Evans, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, to talk about the impact poorly regulated oil and gas extraction has on New Mexico’s environment. Gail and Don appear in Annie’s new film, The Land of Sacrifice: The Burden of New Mexico’s Oil and Gas Extraction. Listen now or subscribe on Apple Podcasts.
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Maybe we’ll never go back to coal. We haven’t (gone) back to oil and gas, so we might just be geothermal people for quite some time, maybe generations, and then eventually something else will come along.”
