President Donald Trump’s wind power court rulings tally gained another entry this week: a federal judge directed the Department of Defense to end its freeze on reviews of proposed onshore wind farms and report back every 30 days on restarting the process, according to RTO Insider. The order matters because the Pentagon’s nonparticipation had stalled a legally required route for identifying and addressing potential conflicts between turbines and military operations.
Ars Technica reported that the Oregon court required the government to resume the approval process after the Defense Department stopped participating in August 2025. Under the process described in that report, the department evaluates possible effects on radar and can negotiate project changes with developers to limit interference. The court held that national-security claims did not let the department opt out of that legally mandated work.
The reporting available does not include the court order itself or an official Defense Department response. It also does not establish a definitive number of projects affected by the shutdown. A lawsuit by 19 state attorneys general alleged that more than 100 pending projects had been caught in the freeze, but that remains the plaintiffs’ allegation.
What did the Pentagon wind review ruling require?
The reported order requires the Defense Department to lift its review freeze for proposed onshore wind farms and provide progress updates every 30 days, RTO Insider said. It does not amount to an approval for any particular project. It restores the review and negotiation process through which potential military concerns can be assessed.
Three separate setbacks, not one final verdict
The Oregon decision is distinct from the administration’s earlier fights over offshore construction. In December, the Interior Department halted work on five East Coast offshore wind projects, citing national-security concerns. Federal judges later allowed construction to resume on Vineyard Wind, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Empire Wind 1 and Revolution Wind, according to The Guardian. Sunrise Wind was still contesting its stop-work order as of February.
Politico reported that judges found different problems with the government’s case. In the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind matter, Judge Jamar Walker said the evidence did not show a security risk imminent enough to justify a stop-work order while litigation continued. In the Revolution Wind case, Judge Royce Lamberth pointed to public comments by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum that discussed reasons unrelated to national security, Politico reported.
There was also a broader legal retreat. Gizmodo reported in June that the administration voluntarily dismissed its appeal of a ruling that invalidated Trump’s January 2025 wind leasing and permitting freeze. The underlying court held the executive order arbitrary, capricious and contrary to law, according to that report.
Why the wider wind fight is still unresolved
Those rulings protect review procedures and allow certain projects to proceed, but they do not erase the administration’s other obstacles to new development. The Guardian reported that BloombergNEF projected 6.1 gigawatts of U.S. offshore wind capacity by 2035, down from a pre-election forecast of 39 gigawatts. A BloombergNEF analyst told the newspaper that new projects were unlikely to begin construction without a major change in policy and regulation.
Analysts quoted by Politico likewise warned that the court wins may not remove the investment uncertainty confronting future offshore projects. That is the more accurate scorecard: the administration has repeatedly lost particular legal fights, while the conditions for the next wave of wind development remain unsettled.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.
