US President Donald Trump’s campaign against clean energy projects suffered back-to-back defeats in court.
A federal judge in Washington, DC, ruled that Danish wind farm developer Orsted can proceed with the construction of its major project off the coast of Rhode Island, which was 90% complete before the Interior Department ordered a pause on several offshore wind projects last month. The $5 billion project “would be irreparably harmed” by the suspension of work, the judge wrote, sending Orsted’s stock price up and also sending a signal, analysts said, that other judges could rule similarly in the cases of other blocked wind projects. Still, top wind industry executives warned this week that the Trump administration’s animosity toward them is raising their cost of capital and could endanger projects around the world.
Separately, another federal judge ruled that the Energy Department’s decision to slash $30 million in funding for seven clean energy projects was unlawful because the decision appeared to be based on political bias, with all the projects located in Democrat-majority states. But more than $7 billion in related DOE funding cuts are still in place.