Today, Attorney General Dan Rayfield is fighting back against a Pentagon freeze that’s blocking wind energy projects nationwide, including here in Oregon. AG Rayfield filed a motion along with 18 other attorneys general intervening in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and Secretary Pete Hegseth, arguing that DoD unlawfully stopped routine reviews of land-based wind projects.
“Oregonians are counting on these wind projects for good paying jobs and cleaner energy,” said Attorney General Rayfield. “The federal administration’s actions are unfair and unlawful, and we’re fighting to keep Oregonians’ energy priorities moving forward.”
Attorney General Rayfield and the coalition are asking the court to set aside DoD’s unlawful freeze and order the agency to resume the review process required by federal law. Under federal law, land-based wind project developers must submit any proposed projects with wind turbines over 200 feet tall to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for review. The FAA then refers these projects to DoD to assess whether they could affect military operations, radar systems, flight paths, or national security.
For more than a decade, DoD engaged in a predictable review process and worked with developers to mitigate potential concerns. Mitigation measures often included changes to turbine placement or height, radar upgrades, or agreements to pause generation under certain circumstances.
Around August 2025, DoD abruptly stopped following this process. Officials ceased countersigning mitigation agreements, stopped sending completed agreements to developers for signature, and delayed or halted communications with developers about mitigation. As a result, wind projects across the country have been frozen at various stages of the review process, including those that had already completed mitigation negotiations and were awaiting only final DoD approval.
The freeze is also derailing Oregon’s clean energy progress. Under a 2021 law, electricity providers built their compliance plans around new wind projects like the Big River Wind Project – plans now upended by the freeze, forcing costly rewrites and delaying the state’s clean energy targets, along with putting more than 4,700 jobs at risk.
The states argue that DoD’s freeze is unlawful, arbitrary and capricious, and violates the Administrative Procedure Act. DoD has not provided a reasonable explanation for its sudden change in policy, accounted for the harm to states, developers, workers, and ratepayers, or considered the major investments made in reliance on its longstanding review process. The coalition also argues that DoD’s refusal to act is causing unreasonable delay and undermining Congress’ directive that DoD balance national security concerns with the responsible development of renewable energy. They are asking the court to require the agency to resume reviewing and approving land-based wind projects.
Along with Attorney General Rayfield, others intervening in this lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington.
