Federal Judge Tosses Trump’s Order Halting Wind Energy Projects

[IsailedawayfromFR]

One more unelected federal judge believing she runs the government by fiat

paywall

Federal Judge Tosses Trump’s Order Halting Wind Energy Projects
U.S. District Judge Patti Saris ruled in favor of a coalition of attorneys general from 17 states and the District of Columbia.

A federal judge on Dec. 8 vacated President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order that halted federal permitting and leasing for wind energy projects, saying it violated U.S. law.

U.S. District Judge Patti Saris of the District of Massachusetts ruled in favor of a coalition of state attorneys general from 17 states and the District of Columbia, which argued that federal efforts to halt authorization for wind energy projects violated the Administrative Procedure Act because the agencies failed to provide reasoned explanations for their actions.

Trump’s order directs federal agencies to halt approvals and leasing for all new offshore wind power projects pending a comprehensive review.
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In a 47-page ruling, Saris stated that the order’s indefinite suspension of wind energy project authorizations violates a statutory requirement that agencies proceed to conclude matters “within a reasonable time.”
“No permits have [been] issued since the wind order was promulgated, and the agency defendants acknowledge that they will not issue any permits at least until they complete the comprehensive assessment, for which there is no timeline,” the judge stated. “That action is contrary to law.”

The judge also noted that federal agencies failed to provide “a reasoned explanation” for halting wind project authorizations, even as they were carrying out the president’s directive.

“Given that the wind order constitutes a change of course from decades of agencies’ issuing (or denying) permits related to wind energy projects, the agency defendants were required, at minimum, to ‘provide a reasoned explanation for the change’ and to ‘display awareness that (they were) changing position.’ They failed to do so,” Saris stated.

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, part of the coalition in the lawsuit, hailed the ruling as a “critical victory” for the states.

“Massachusetts has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into offshore wind, and today, we successfully protected those important investments from the Trump Administration’s unlawful order,” Campbell said in a statement.
New York Attorney General Letitia James welcomed the ruling and said there is a need to develop more energy sources, including wind energy, amid rising costs.

“I am grateful the court stepped in to block the administration’s reckless and unlawful crusade against clean energy,” she added.

White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers defended Trump’s directive, saying that offshore wind projects were given “unfair, preferential treatment” under the Biden administration while other energy sources faced burdensome regulations.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/federal-judge-tosses-trumps-order-halting-wind-energy-projects-5955597?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=TheLibertyDaily

[Wingnut]

Oh my.  She's up there with Helen Thomas, and that blue haired freak from Maine or Vermont.

[andy58-in-nh]

@IsailedawayfromFR

Would you please make that picture smaller?

It's scaring the crap out of my dog, and the cat just ran under the bed.

Thank you. 
 

[libertybele]

By the picture at first I thought she was a he until I saw the pearls and even at that I'm not quite certain.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

@IsailedawayfromFR

Would you please make that picture smaller?

It's scaring the crap out of my dog, and the cat just ran under the bed.

Thank you.

I wish I knew how.

I thought it was a joke but she it is the real thing.

[Wingnut]

One more unelected federal judge believing she runs the government by fiat

paywall

[andy58-in-nh]

Thanks. Still ugly as sin, but small enough that the cat has come back out from under the bed. 

[BobfromWB]

still might be a tad big for some ...

[DefiantMassRINO]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1ZJiBHh-Yw&list=RDY1ZJiBHh-Yw

[Free Vulcan]

Funny how Biden could shut down oil projects with such ease.

[Wingnut]

Funny how Biden could shut down oil projects with such ease.

IKR.

[Kamaji]

Funny how Biden could shut down oil projects with such ease.

 Because they followed the APA and Trumps administration does not. 

The APA is supposed to be a weapon against the government, forcing the government to provided a reasoned explanation for its actions, but in the hands of an experienced administrative practitioner it can also be used as a very effective shield against interference with an administrations goals. 

If only Trump would hire some experienced APA practitioners in addition to the firebrands like Musk. 

This judge almost paints a roadmap for how the Trump administration could have successfully stymied these projects for years.

[Free Vulcan]

And if the reason had been provided, it would not have been accepted. Or would have been rejected for 'not doing it the right way' or pick your excuse.

Problem is if this were the Rats the judge would have ruled their intentions good and allowed it, because it wasn't a substantive flaw.

[Kamaji]

And if the reason had been provided, it would not have been accepted. Or would have been rejected for 'not doing it the right way' or pick your excuse.

Problem is if this were the Rats the judge would have ruled their intentions good and allowed it, because it wasn't a substantive flaw.

not if done correctly.  The court’s role under the APA is ensuring that the procedural requirements are met,  it second-guessing the merits. Geez, do you people really need a first-grade primer on the APA?

[Free Vulcan]

not if done correctly.  The court’s role under the APA is ensuring that the procedural requirements are met,  it second-guessing the merits. Geez, do you people really need a first-grade primer on the APA?

And you darn well know that it's unequal enforcement depending on who's in charge. In a Rat admin the judge would give this a pass.

[Kamaji]

And you darn well know that it's unequal enforcement depending on who's in charge. In a Rat admin the judge would give this a pass.

If the APA had been punctiliously followed, and a district court judge tossed the action out, either the appeals court or the Supreme Court would reinstate it.  But that is a lost opportunity if one never complied with the APA in the first place.

[catfish1957]

Borrowing from Rodney, .....  I have seen people hit by the ugly stick, but never by the whole damned tree. 

[DefiantMassRINO]

Appeal!  Appeal!  Appeal!

The Offshore Wind Farms are an expensive fraud perpetrated upon residential electricity customers.

1.) They don't do squat to stop 'Global Climate Change'.
2.) They are an uneconomical misallocation of public resource$.
3.) They were 'fasttracked' and did not receive proper environmental scrutiny and rigor.
4.) The sound surveys may have caused whale strandings.
5.) They are navigation hazards.

The Offshore Wind Farms are failures of centralized government planning and re-engineering of the economy.

[Kamaji]

Appeal!  Appeal!  Appeal!

The Offshore Wind Farms are an expensive fraud perpetrated upon residential electricity customers.

1.) They don't do squat to stop 'Global Climate Change'.
2.) They are an uneconomical misallocation of public resource$.
3.) They were 'fasttracked' and did not receive proper environmental scrutiny and rigor.
4.) The sound surveys may have caused whale strandings.
5.) They are navigation hazards.

The Offshore Wind Farms are failures of centralized government planning and re-engineering of the economy.

And if that had all been put into an appropriate APA framework, and a reasonable time forecast - which, of course, would have to be delayed several times so the agency could continue to work on the matters carefully, the plaintiffs would not have won quite so easily on the ground that the action violated the APA.

[Kamaji]

Borrowing from Rodney, .....  I have seen people hit by the ugly stick, but never by the whole damned tree. 

More like half the damned forest.

[Wingnut]

More like half the damned forest.

That rat she has on her head is something to die for

[Smokin Joe]

Funny how Biden could shut down oil projects with such ease.

EXACTLY!

Where were these judges when, on day one, he wiped out 11,000 pipeline jobs, not to mention all the spinoff jobs those would have created.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Borrowing from Rodney, .....  I have seen people hit by the ugly stick, but never by the whole damned tree.

 

[Hoodat]

Where was this judge when Biden halted wall-building?