A new round of legal battles over wind power has 19 state attorney generals suing the Department of Defense “for unlawfully freezing routine reviews of wind energy projects across the country.”
The states’ challenge filed July 16 in U.S. District Court in Portland, Ore., complains about Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the Department of Defense’s “unlawful decision to freeze routine reviews of land-based wind energy projects across the country.”
“DoD is required by federal law to review proposed wind projects for potential national security concerns and work with developers to address any issues,” according to the complaint from the states, and allied wind developers, energy and environmental groups. “Around August 2025, however, DoD abruptly stopped moving projects through this review process.”
The new case carries on the Trump administration’s determined effort to derail wind power, solar and other renewable energy projects in favor of legacy fossil fuels like oil, natural gas and coal. The new states’ court case focuses on the administration’s opposition to upland wind turbine construction but attracted immediate support from coastal states like New Jersey, once a leader in the push to develop U.S. wind power.
“Instead of focusing on boosting domestic sources of clean energy, the Trump Administration has chosen to freeze projects that would supply much-needed electricity to New Jerseyans and people across the country,” said Jennifer Davenport, New Jersey’s state attorney general, when her state joined the court action July 16.
“What New Jersey residents need is more, not less, energy generation to bring down record-high electricity bills, but the federal government is undermining nationwide investments in clean power that will impact prices here at home.”
A ruling in the Oregon case could influence how other courts view the Trump administration’s campaign against offshore wind projects as well. This year federal courts has blocked five attempts to shut down major East Coast offshore wind developments.
Proposed projects with wind turbines over 200’ tall must be reviewed by the Federal Aviation Administration and Defense Department for potential impacts on military operations, radar systems, flight paths, and national security.
In August 2025, federal officials “abruptly stopped following this process, freezing development of more than one hundred pending wind projects across the country at various stages of the review process,” Davenport said. She says “electricity bills in New Jersey and throughout PJM (the regional power network) have soared in recent years, and the frozen projects would bring new energy resources online to help lower costs.”
”Mariners can adapt to operating radars around wind turbines, especially with the latest radar equipment and appropriate training, the 2022 National Academies report said. But adjusting to the image clutter and scatter from turbines will obfuscate their view of smaller vessels amid the turbine fields – a critical problem for search and rescue operations, the report says.
