A federal judge has rejected the Trump administration’s efforts to end a lawsuit challenging federal policies targeting wind and solar projects.
On Tuesday, Judge Denise Casper of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that clean energy developers had grounds to continue their challenge against five Interior Department and Army Corps of Engineers policies they alleged were hampering solar and wind development.
One of those policies is a memorandum requiring senior Interior Department officials to sign off on wind and solar permits, putting those projects under additional scrutiny as part of an effort to slow-walk approvals and construction.
The ruling comes less than two months after Casper, an Obama appointee, issued an order temporarily blocking Interior and the Army Corps from enforcing the policies against Renew Northeast and other regional wind and solar developers involved in the lawsuit.
