The federal District Court of Massachusetts (Patti B. Saris) has declared that an executive memorandum issued by President Trump to place a “temporary” hold on offshore leasing for wind projects (the “Wind Memo”) violates the Administrative Procedures Act and is unlawful. It has vacated the Memo “in its entirety.”
President Trump issued the memo on the first day of his second term. It ordered a variety of federal agencies to “not issue new or renewed permits, leases, or loans for onshore or offshore wind projects pending the completion of a comprehensive assessment and review of Federal wind leasing and permitting practices.” When no action had been taken on a review of policies and no projects permitted or renewed, 17 states and the District of Columbia and the nonprofit Alliance for Clean Energy New York filed suit in May, 2025.
After a hearing and motions by each side to grant summary judgment, the Court granted the plaintiffs’ motion to declare the Wind Memo illegal and denied the government’s motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims.
The Court found that the plaintiffs had standing to bring their suit and that it had authority to review the “final” action by the agencies. On the merits, the Court found that the Wind Memo was an “arbitrary, capricious … abuse of discretion” under the APA. It rejected the agencies’ contention that it was not arbitrary or capricious because the action was directed by the President.
The only two documents in the administrative record were the President’s Memo and an order of the Interior Department suspending the issuance of renewable energy authorizations. “This scant administrative record makes clear, and the Agency Defendants do not meaningfully dispute, that the Agency Defendants have not ‘reasonably considered the relevant issues and reasonably explained their decision’ to implement the Wind Order” as required by the APA, the Court said.
The Court also found that the failure to act was in violation of provisions of the APA requiring the agencies to act on matters presented to them “within a reasonable time” and requiring procedures to be completed “in an expeditious and judicious manner.” (New York v. Trump, D. MA, No.25-cv-11221,12/8/25.)
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