By Nate Raymond
BOSTON (Reuters) -A coalition of Democratic state attorneys general sued on Monday in a bid to block President Donald Trump’s move to suspend leasing and permitting of new wind projects, saying it threatens to cripple the wind industry and a key source of clean energy.
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Boston argued that the decision by the Republican president’s administration to indefinitely pause all federal wind-energy approvals is unlawful and must be blocked.
Trump announced the pause on his first day back in office on January 20 when he directed his administration to halt offshore wind lease sales and stop the issuance of permits, leases and loans for both onshore and offshore wind projects.
“This administration is devastating one of our nation’s fastest-growing sources of clean, reliable and affordable energy,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, said in a statement.
The lawsuit seeks a court order declaring the indefinite pause unlawful and barring the agencies including the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency from implementing Trump’s directive.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Will Dunham)
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