Setbacks for Trump's Clean Energy Rollbacks: Federal Courts Restore Grants and Offshore Wind Farms

In the past week, two United States federal courts delivered major setbacks to the Trump administration's efforts to block clean energy projects. Earth.Org reports that on Monday, Judge Amit P. Mehta of the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled the administration's halt on millions of dollars in clean energy grants unlawful, noting it primarily targeted projects in Democratic-led states. The judge ordered the grants restored and the administration to pay plaintiffs' legal fees. Similarly, three federal judges in Washington and Virginia authorized the restart of three offshore wind farms, including one operated by the Norwegian group Equinor off New York, as Le Monde notes these actions counter the administration's dismantling of climate policies.

These rulings highlight ongoing legal battles amid broader rollbacks. France24 indicates the administration is finalizing repeal of the 2009 Endangerment Finding, the scientific basis for US climate rules under the Clean Air Act, with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin calling it the largest deregulation effort in US history. The move argues greenhouse gases are not traditional pollutants and their regulation cannot solve a global issue. Earth.Org details how, one year into Trump's term, the administration has cut climate research funding, terminated the US Global Change Research Program, shut down climate.gov and NOAA's Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disaster dataset, and blocked billions in clean energy funds, leaving projects in limbo.

Emissions trends underscore the stakes. Le Monde cites Rhodium Group data showing US greenhouse gas emissions rose 2.4 percent in 2025 after two years of decline, driven by a harsher winter boosting natural gas and heating oil use in buildings by nearly seven percent. Photovoltaic production soared 34 percent last year, but Congress eliminated most solar and wind tax credits in summer 2025, risking reversal.

Globally, Earth.Org confirms 2025 as the third hottest year on record, with scientists now expecting 1.5 degrees Celsius warming exceeded by decade's end, per ASLA's January update. A powerful winter storm, Winter Storm Fern, threatens over 230 million Americans with snow, ice, and emergencies in 14 states and Washington DC, as Mathrubhumi reports, fueling debates amid Trump's skepticism.

These events reveal patterns of policy reversals clashing with court interventions and rising emissions, even as renewable momentum persists under legal pressure.

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