U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut has ordered the Department of Defense to resume national security reviews for onshore wind projects, halting a freeze that began in late 2025. The Pentagon claimed the pause was necessary to assess radar interference risks amid evolving global threats. However, Judge Immergut ruled the agency violated statutory deadlines, delivering a major blow to the Trump administration's efforts to restrict wind power. The freeze had stalled up to 155 projects across 25 states, risking $47 billion in investments.
Federal court injunction order
- ▪Judge Karin Immergut ordered the Department of Defense to provide status reports to the court every 30 days addressing whether reviews of wind projects have resumed.
- ▪U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut of Oregon issued a preliminary injunction on August 6, 2026, ordering the Department of Defense to resume national security reviews for stalled onshore wind projects.
Pentagon wind project reviews
- ▪The Department of Defense gradually slowed wind project reviews starting in August 2025 and enacted an outright freeze on the review process by April or May 2026.
- ▪The Department of Defense stopped signing completed agreements with developers, canceled negotiations in mitigation discussions, and issued guidance in May 2026 to reassess projects causing Doppler interference.
- ▪The Department of Defense is required under a 2011 mandate to evaluate whether proposed energy construction projects would adversely impact military operations, radar, airspace, and readiness.
National security justification claims
- ▪Defense officials argued the review freeze was necessary to reassess risk-assessment processes due to evolving global threats, adversarial capabilities, and potential Doppler radar interference from spinning turbine blades.
- ▪Attorneys for the Department of Defense requested the lawsuit be dismissed, arguing that national security concerns should take precedence over the commercial interests of energy developers.
Regulatory deadline violations
- ▪Renewable energy trade groups and environmental nonprofits filed the lawsuit alleging the Department of Defense's freeze was unlawful and violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
- ▪Judge Karin Immergut ruled that the Department of Defense violated statutory and regulatory deadlines established by Congress by withholding and halting the wind project reviews.
- ▪Democratic attorneys general from 18 states and the District of Columbia filed a separate lawsuit challenging the Department of Defense's freeze on wind project reviews.
Wind development economic impacts
- ▪Plaintiffs in the litigation stated that the review freeze has cost states up to $47 billion in potential investments and threatened the loss of critical federal tax credits.
- ▪The Pentagon's review freeze stalled between 106 and 155 utility-scale wind projects across 21 to 25 states, bringing onshore wind development to a standstill.
- ▪Wind energy developers faced a July 4, 2026, deadline to lock in federal tax credits, which require completing project construction within four years to receive the discounts.
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