President Donald Trump issued a bevy of executive orders his first week back in office, which included pausing the distribution of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and pausing offshore wind leases and permitting pending a review.
Bracewell’s Scott Segal told Hart Energy that like any other provision in the IRA, changing the section tying wind and oil and gas lease sales “would require an act of Congress absent some unlikely constitutional challenge.”
He added that Trump’s wind energy executive order may have other legal obstacles it will need to overcome, specifically regarding the directive to review and potentially terminate existing wind energy leases.
“Such actions could violate contractual rights or exceed executive authority, leading to protracted litigation,” Segal said. “Past legal precedents indicate that abrupt policy shifts impacting existing agreements often result in complex legal disputes. I would think challenges are likely by private litigants or perhaps even from disappointed states counting on wind projects to meet their energy goals.”