June 19, 2025 — A federal judge on Wednesday issued a tentative ruling, partially allowing and partially denying the Trump administration’s motion to dismiss the multistate lawsuit against its freeze on offshore wind permitting and leasing — a consequential case for the industry and the coastal states relying on it to supply electricity amid growing grid demand in the coming decades.
Judge William G. Young ruled that the states have standing to bring this case, and that the permitting freeze – which has been given no deadline or timeline – is essentially a final agency decision (as opposed to an ongoing review) and as such, can be challenged by the states.
Still, he continues to express concern as to how a lifting of the freeze would consequently lead to government agencies issuing the outstanding permits to wind developers. (In the words of the federal government in its filing, “they would not” automatically issue.)
For example, SouthCoast Wind received final project approval, but it still needs three federal permits, which were previously set to issue in March, before construction can start.
The lawsuit will tentatively proceed to a motion for summary judgment in September, for which the federal government must submit administrative records to the court that document its decision to implement the wind order by July 2.