Rhode Island is one of 17 states and the District of Columbia that filed a lawsuit Monday against the Trump administration, challenging President Trump’s executive order on wind energy.
Trump halted all permitting and approval of wind farms — both onshore and offshore — on his first day in office Jan. 20.
Now, a Cape Cod energy consultant says additional states may quietly support the lawsuit.
Republican-led states that benefit substantially from wind power, often from land-based turbines, could be silently hoping Democrats get the injunction they’re seeking, said Chris Powicki, who has taught renewable energy courses at Cape Cod Community College.
“The impacts of the executive order have been huge, on not just the offshore wind industry, but the wind industry writ large,” he said.
Powicki also serves as Cape and Islands chair for the Sierra Club, which supports wind energy.
“I suspect, based on support for the wind industry in some of the Plains states, the so-called red states might be rooting for the blue states to win this one,” he said, at least in areas where the wind resource is substantial.
But if the lawsuit succeeds in winning a court order, he said, the administration could find other ways to halt wind development.
“I think they could get the injunction, but I don’t know if the Trump administration would adhere to it,” he said, and “if they do adhere to it, will they come up with some other workaround or delaying tactic?”
White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said Democratic attorneys general are engaging in “lawfare” — using legal procedure as a weapon — to try to stop President Trump’s energy agenda, instead of working with him to lower energy prices.
Rogers said in an email, “The American people voted for the President to restore America’s energy dominance, and Americans in blue states should not have to pay the price of the Democrats’ radical climate agenda.”
New York is leading the group of plaintiffs. Participating states, along with Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, include Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington.
They filed the lawsuit the same day the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear two cases challenging the approval of Vineyard Wind. Lower courts had upheld the approval.
This story was originally published by CAI. It was shared as part of the New England News Collaborative.
