Judge rules in favor of Arizona’s side in lawsuit against administration’s ‘Wind Order’
A federal judge has ruled for Arizona’s side in a lawsuit that challenged President Donald Trump’s order that called for the development of wind energy to be halted.
The “Wind Order,” which was issued in a January presidential memorandum, was found to be unlawful by Judge Patti Saris in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts and thus was vacated, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a media release Tuesday.
“Trump’s illegal wind order would have driven up energy costs on Arizonans already struggling with high utility bills,” Mayes said. “I am proud to have sued to block this unlawful order.”
Why did Arizona, other states sue the administration over Wind Order?
In May, Mayes joined a multistate coalition of 18 attorneys general in suing the Trump administration over the order, which called for the approvals of all offshore and onshore wind energy projects to be suspended indefinitely.
The states argued that the order violated the Administrative Procedure Act and that implementation of the order caused a reduction or loss in tax and other related revenue, hampered efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and would have made energy more expensive in the long term.
Saris ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor, saying the order “altered the legal status quo” for processing wind project applications and that the order, which was meant to be a temporary pause on wind energy projects, actually amounted to a “de facto suspension of the law with respect to wind energy development,” according to court documents.
Mayes believes the state of Arizona will benefit from this ruling.
“In Arizona, wind energy projects on State Trust lands also generate critical revenue that supports our public schools,” Mayes said. “The Trump administration’s illegal freeze of these programs would have harmed Arizona and threatened our state’s economy and environment.”