A federal appeals court ruled that recent Interior Department and Army Corps of Engineers policies targeting renewable projects are illegal, issuing an injunction. Judge Casper said the agencies lacked legal footing to prioritize an energy‑density calculation over the multi‑factor analysis required by statutes. The suit, filed by a dozen industry groups from the Northeast to the Southeast, claimed the rules would cripple new clean‑energy capacity.

Under the contested rules, the Corps must compare a project's megawatt output per acre against all conceivable alternative land uses, while the Interior Department applies the same metric. By making the energy‑density calculation the sole and significant gatekeeper, the agencies bypassed statutory requirements to weigh environmental, cultural, and economic factors, prompting the court to deem the approach arbitrary.

The injunction immediately frees a coalition of renewable energy developers—including the Clean Grid Alliance and Renew Northeast—from the new hurdles. Agencies may still slow approvals through informal means, and the government retains the option to appeal. Nonetheless, for the plaintiffs the decision removes the most overt barrier to expanding wind and solar projects on federal lands.