{"id":498,"date":"2026-06-16T16:08:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T16:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=498"},"modified":"2026-06-16T16:08:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T16:08:40","slug":"trump-administration-drops-effort-to-halt-wind-energy-projects-across-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=498","title":{"rendered":"Trump Administration Drops Effort to Halt Wind Energy Projects Across the US"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Trump administration has abandoned its effort to halt wind energy projects across the United States and dropped its challenge to the court ruling that tossed President Donald Trump\u2019s order freezing federal permitting and leasing for wind projects. States that challenged the order hailed the development as one of the most significant legal victories against the Trump White House\u2019s campaign against the energy transition.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit dismissed the appeal after the Justice Department filed a motion for its voluntary dismissal on June 10. <\/p>\n

The case against Trump\u2019s executive order was filed in May, 2025 by a coalition of attorneys general from 17 states and Washington, D.C., led by New York Attorney General Letitia James.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s decision affirms the Dec. 8 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Patti Saris, which concluded that Trump\u2019s January 2025 executive order was unlawful, finding the sweeping ban on wind projects was \u201carbitrary and capricious\u201d and exceeded the president\u2019s authority. <\/p>\n

Environmental and wildlife advocacy groups applauded the move. Nancy Pyne, a senior advisor to the Sierra Club, said renewable energy continues to prevail and grow in spite of Trump\u2019s relentless attacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile everyday Americans face soaring bills and unstable prices,\u201d she said, \u201crenewable energy offers an affordable, common sense solution to lower costs and protect our health and our environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

This latest victory in a string of legal setbacks for the administration comes at a time when clean energy production continues to surge despite a slew of policy, permitting and procedural hurdles imposed by the White House. <\/p>\n

According to a from the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund and Atlas Public Policy, a record 79.7 GW of clean power are projected to come online in the U.S. in 2026, even as roughly 8 GW of clean energy projects were canceled in the first quarter of the year.<\/p>\n

The project pipeline remains strong, the report found, with 222 GW of clean energy capacity planned or under construction nationwide as part of 693 GW of power announced through the first quarter. Developers have announced plans to invest an estimated $377 billion in new projects through 2031, the report said in its key findings. <\/p>\n

The country already has 471 GW of clean power online, with a record 51.6 GW newly added in 2025, \u201cthe equivalent of about 25 Hoover Dams,\u201d the report notes. Solar and battery storage now account for 85 percent of the planned pipeline.<\/p>\n

The Monday court ruling arrives roughly a week after a different federal court restored a key tax-credit pathway for wind and solar developers. <\/p>\n

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On June 6, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia tossed an August 2025 treasury rule that made it difficult for wind and solar projects to qualify for federal tax credits. The change eliminated the longstanding practice whereby developers locked in tax credits by showing that 5 percent or more of a project\u2019s total cost had been spent. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the administration had not given a sound reason for the change, and sent the rule back to the IRS to reconsider.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see a strong correlation between the high rate of cancellation and the anti-renewable policies from the Trump Administration \u2014 from aggressive executive orders through attempts to repeal pollution protections,\u201d said David Villagrana, lead counsel for clean energy tax solutions at EDF. In an emailed response, Villagrana said the Trump administration has significantly delayed projects through administrative measures. \u201cDevelopment within any industry likes consistency; for clean energy, the Trump administration has ensured a lack thereof.\u201d<\/p>\n

He cautiously welcomed the court\u2019s overturning of the revised 5 percent rule, saying the administration could decide to appeal the district court\u2019s decision but \u201cit would have to overcome the district court\u2019s careful and thorough analysis of the many legal deficiencies in the IRS\u2019 notice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EDF report also tracked a sharp uptick in gas projects. \u201c[T]otal planned and under construction natural gas capacity rose from 44.8 GW in Q4 2025 to 65.5 GW by the end of Q1 2026, an increase of 20.7 GW,\u201d its authors wrote, more than four times the combined growth of solar, storage and onshore wind over the same period. Fossil fuels\u2019 share of planned capacity has climbed from 9 percent at the end of 2022 to 27 percent, \u201ca threefold increase that points to an uptick in fossil fuel generation investment,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Inside Climate News<\/em>, Jon Gordon, senior policy director at Advanced Energy United, a clean energy advocacy group, said the gas buildout was \u201cvery concerning\u2026 particularly from an environmental standpoint,\u201d warning that new plants are \u201clikely going to be in service for 30 years plus, once they\u2019re constructed.\u201d <\/p>\n

He said \u201cthe big reason we\u2019re seeing this surge of natural gas is this administration that\u2019s been throwing roadblocks in the way of renewables and providing incentives for fossil fuel.\u201d <\/p>\n

For a clean-energy state like Maryland, he said, the challenge was real because \u201ca lot of our problems are very short term. We need new supply right away,\u201d and yet gas plants \u201care the longest to build.\u201d Gordon argued that economics increasingly favors the clean energy pathway because the cost of building gas plants \u201chas almost doubled in just a couple of years,\u201d while solar and battery costs keep falling.<\/p>\n

The EDF-Atlas report also found that 80 percent of the nation\u2019s existing, planned and under-construction clean power capacity is located in congressional districts represented by Republicans. Of the 30 districts with the most clean power capacity, just five are Democratic. Texas leads every state with 164 GW, nearly double California, in second place with 83 GW.<\/p>\n

Abe Silverman, an assistant research scholar at Johns Hopkins University\u2019s Ralph O\u2019Connor Sustainable Energy Institute, cautioned against reading the map in partisan terms. Talking to Inside Climate News<\/em>, he said the first thing he looks to is \u201cwhere is land cheap.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it really the red and blueness of the state, or is it the underlying cost of land and the density,\u201d he asked. Much of the growth is in areas with low-cost land, he said, and it is further shaped by interconnection policies.<\/p>\n

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Clean energy production surges despite a slew of policy, permitting, and procedural hurdles imposed by the White House.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump Administration Drops Effort to Halt Wind Energy Projects Across the US - Smart Moving Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=498\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump Administration Drops Effort to Halt Wind Energy Projects Across the US - Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Clean energy production surges despite a slew of policy, permitting, and procedural hurdles imposed by the White House.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=498\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-16T16:08:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=498#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=498\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\"},\"headline\":\"Trump Administration Drops Effort to Halt Wind Energy Projects Across the US\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-16T16:08:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=498\"},\"wordCount\":1079,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=498#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/0fa98aeee6024d4d3aeff630e1d4cf7a.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=498#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=498\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=498\",\"name\":\"Trump Administration Drops Effort to Halt Wind Energy Projects Across the US - 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