Attorney General Jennifer Davenport today joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general participating in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and Secretary Pete Hegseth for unlawfully freezing routine reviews of wind energy projects across the country. These projects, if allowed to proceed, would increase the supply of clean energy and help bring down electricity prices.
For more than a decade, DoD followed its legally mandated review process for wind projects under federal law, issuing approvals and working with developers to address concerns as it had in the past. However, the second Trump Administration has attempted to halt wind projects through presidential memoranda, secretarial orders, agency instruction, permit denials, sudden reversals of established policies and practices, unlawful settlements, and a host of other actions. Today’s lawsuit pushes back on the federal government’s latest efforts to indefinitely delay more than one hundred wind projects by refusing to carry out its required review.
“Instead of focusing on boosting domestic sources of clean energy, the Trump Administration has chosen to freeze projects that would supply much-needed electricity to New Jerseyans and people across the country,” said Attorney General Davenport. “What New Jersey residents need is more, not less, energy generation to bring down record-high electricity bills, but the federal government is undermining nationwide investments in clean power that will impact prices here at home.”
Attorney General Davenport and the coalition are asking the court to block DoD’s unlawful freeze and order the agency to resume its review of the pending wind projects as required by law.
Under federal law, proposed projects with wind turbines over 200 feet tall must be reviewed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and DoD for potential impacts on military operations, radar systems, flight paths, or national security. DoD must follow certain procedures and engage with the project developer to discuss how to address any such concerns, which may include changes to turbine placement or height, radar upgrades, or agreements to pause generation under certain circumstances.
In August 2025, DoD abruptly stopped following this process, freezing development of more than one hundred pending wind projects across the country at various stages of the review process. New Jersey is served by the regional transmission organization PJM Interconnection, which receives energy from projects currently subject to the wind freeze. Electricity bills in New Jersey and throughout PJM have soared in recent years, and the frozen projects would bring new energy resources online to help lower costs.
Attorney General Davenport and the coalition argue that DoD’s freeze is unlawful, arbitrary and capricious, and violates the Administrative Procedure Act. DoD has not provided a reasonable explanation for its sudden change in policy, accounted for the harm to states, developers, workers, and ratepayers, or considered the major investments made in reliance on its longstanding review process. The coalition also argues that DoD’s refusal to act is causing unreasonable delay and undermining Congress’ directive that DoD balance national security concerns with the responsible development of renewable energy. They are asking the court to require the agency to resume reviewing and approving the frozen wind projects.
This is the third time the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General has stepped in to stop the president’s unlawful attack on the wind industry. In June, Attorney General Davenport joined a coalition suing the U.S. Department of the Interior over its unlawful cancellation of a lease for a major wind project off the coast of New Jersey and New York. Last year, New Jersey was one of 18 states suing the Trump Administration over the Presidential Memorandum that, among other things, indefinitely halted all federal approvals necessary for the development of offshore and onshore wind energy projects.
Joining Attorney General Davenport in intervening in this lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington.