Overview
- The preliminary injunction, issued Tuesday by Chief Judge Denise Casper in Boston, halts Interior’s July memo that required senior political signoffs on nearly every wind and solar permitting step.
- Her order also blocks a “capacity density” test that weighs energy produced per acre, a similar U.S. Army Corps directive, agency action targeting a key planning tool, and an offshore-wind interpretation.
- Relief applies to members of the plaintiff coalitions, including RENEW Northeast, Alliance for Clean Energy New York, MAREC Action, Clean Grid Alliance, and Green Energy Consumers Alliance.
- The plaintiffs argued the policies created a complete bottleneck and were imposed without a reasoned explanation, which they said violates the Administrative Procedure Act.
- The decision marks another courtroom setback for the administration’s efforts to tighten scrutiny of wind and solar projects onshore and offshore.