Svend Brandt-Erichsen Comments on Federal Court Renewables Ruling
Svend Brandt-Erichsen was quoted extensively in the Law360 story “Trump Orders On Renewables Get A Judicial Reality Check” (subscription required). The piece discusses how a recent 2026 ruling from a Massachusetts Federal Court is part of a wave of rulings that have impacted the Trump administration’s efforts to curb wind and solar energy projects.
The Massachusetts ruling temporarily blocks, as a lawsuit plays out, several policies from the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Army Corps of Engineers that put in place new permitting impediments for wind and solar projects after concluding they were likely unlawful. The article notes “Federal judges have previously vacated President Donald Trump’s executive order for a federal permitting moratorium on new wind projects and enjoined DOI orders halting construction work on five offshore wind farms…and [the fact that] courts are blocking both broad-based and project-specific actions shows that administrative law can serve as a check on the Trump administration’s anti-renewables push.”
Speaking to Law360, Svend said, “I think we are seeing how the Administrative Procedure Act puts a floor on deference under [the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County]… Where a statute gives an agency discretion, Seven County counsels the courts to defer to agency exercise of that discretion. But the APA still requires agencies to provide a reasoned basis for their actions.”
He added the implications of the Massachusetts ruling are still undetermined, saying the decision will “probably take a few weeks for this to filter down to the field [office] level…It just will be a question as to whether agency personnel are told that they are allowed to talk with developers about wind and solar projects, and that’ll be an indication that you know that the ruling is being followed.”
Law360 wrote how during this uncertainty, while agencies can’t enforce policies that have been judicially blocked, they can still exercise a lot of control over permitting timelines, and that “wind and solar developers may still find themselves below traditional energy companies in the pecking order” for permits. The publication also floated the idea of bipartisan permitting legislation being passed to help mitigate such actions.
Commenting on this, Svend added, “Everyone now recognizes that trying to structure permitting rules to play favorites among technologies is a bad idea. It creates uncertainty, since favorites change from one administration to the next. Permitting reform is about reducing uncertainty and providing a level playing field.”
