Court Blocks Trump Administration’s Ban on Clean Affordable Energy

(WASHINGTON – April 21, 2026) Today, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts blocked a suite of Trump administration actions that operated as an effective ban on permitting wind and solar projects on federal lands. This obstruction has also impacted projects being developed on private land that need to cross federal land or trigger certain federal review requirements.

The lawsuit, filed in December by nine renewable energy groups, challenged six actions by the Trump administration that unlawfully punish wind and solar energy, including a heightened review process that requires the Secretary of the Interior’s personal sign-off on all projects. Public interest groups, including Environmental Defense Fund, and the state of Massachusetts filed friend of the court briefs supporting the renewable energy companies’ request for a preliminary injunction.

“The Trump administration has been burying solar and wind projects in red tape instead of lowering costs for the American people by unlocking affordable clean power,” Ted Kelly, Director and Lead Counsel for U.S. Clean Energy at Environmental Defense Fund. 

“The Court ruled that the administration has been unlawfully obstructing clean energy on federal lands — putting the brakes on new affordable homegrown power when households and businesses need relief.

“The ruling underscores how the Trump administration has been taking a two-tiered approach to energy permitting. While officials have tried to unfairly delay and cancel clean energy projects at every turn, they have rolled out ‘concierge, white-glove service’ for coal and other polluting fossil fuels — opening millions of new acres of public land for coal mining and forcing families to pay for unreliable, expensive coal plants indefinitely.”

The Trump administration’s actions to stall out wind and solar on federal lands include:

• Heightened review process for Department of the Interior approvals of wind and solar projects, including requiring the personal sign-off of the Interior Secretary
• Ban of wind and solar projects from using the Information for Planning and Consultation website, an online mapping tool for identifying potential endangered species impacts and other environmental review needs
• Department of the Interior’s “capacity density” rule, which effectively banned the approval of new wind and solar projects on federal lands
• The Army Corps of Engineer’s “capacity density” rule, which stalled review of permits for wind and solar projects

• Changes to effectively block the approval of any offshore wind project

  Clean energy projects on federal lands produce about 4% of the nation’s renewable power and have the potential to provide 12.5% in the next decade.