A federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump’s executive order halting onshore and offshore wind power leasing and permitting was unlawful, finding that it violated the Administrative Procedure Act.

Judge Patti B. Saris, of the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, found that both Trump and the executive agencies charged with carrying out the order failed to provide a reasoned explanation for the change, as required by the APA.

“Even assuming … that the [order] itself could be characterized as the [agencies’] own explanation for their manner of implementing it, the [order] does not provide adequate explanation: It merely includes a single sentence citing ‘various alleged legal deficiencies underlying’ wind permitting, ‘potential inadequacies in various environmental reviews’ and the possibility that these vaguely defined issues ‘may lead to grave harm,’” Saris wrote in a ruling issued Dec. 8.

“Whatever level of explanation is required when deviating from longstanding agency practice, this is not it.”

In ruling against the administration, Saris sided with 18 Democratic state attorneys general who challenged the order in May. (See State Attorneys General Sue Trump for Executive Order Halting Wind Approvals.)

Along with the halt, Trump had ordered a review of the government’s permitting processes for both types of wind resources. The states argued this also violated the APA, as the president did not set a deadline for the review, and there was no indication that the relevant agencies were even working on it. Saris agreed.

“More than 10 months after the wind order instituted a ‘temporary’ pause on the issuance of wind energy authorizations, no end to the comprehensive assessment appears to be in sight,” she wrote. “The agency defendants neither included a timeline for that assessment in the administrative record nor provided an anticipated end date during the course of this litigation.”

Trump’s order effectively halted development of the U.S. offshore wind industry: Multiple projects were canceled, and international companies such as Ørsted have shifted their focus to building in more favorable regulatory environments. (See Ørsted to Slash Workforce, Refocus on European OSW.)

“Overturning the unlawful blanket halt to offshore wind permitting activities is needed to achieve our nation’s energy and economic priorities of bringing more power online quickly, improving grid reliability, and driving billions of new American steel manufacturing and shipbuilding investments,” Oceantic Network CEO Liz Burdock said in a statement.

But while stocks for Ørsted and other energy companies with offshore wind holdings rose on news of the ruling, ClearView Energy Partners said it was skeptical new offshore wind projects would proceed, at least while Trump is still in office.

“We view the ruling as positive for offshore wind proponents, but we are not convinced the decision sufficiently supplants the actions the Trump administration has taken to constrain offshore wind,” ClearView said in a note Dec. 9. “We are skeptical that this loss in court can inspire the administration to change its oppositional posture.”

“The court expresses no view on whether the agency defendants should issue or withhold any particular permit,” Saris wrote. “But, while a president may direct a reappraisal of permitting practices after a change of administration, the agency defendants may not, as they have done here, decline to adjudicate applications altogether, for an unspecified time, pending the completion of a wide-ranging assessment with no anticipated end date.”

Saris’ ruling, if upheld, may be a boon to projects that have already been approved. In a filing with the U.S. District Court for D.C. on Dec. 2, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management asked for a voluntary remand of its approval of New England Wind, off the coast of Massachusetts. It cited Trump’s executive order and its ongoing “re-evaluation” of its permitting process.

While the administration had issued stop-work orders on two projects, they were later lifted. Five projects are still under construction in the U.S.: Vineyard Wind 1, off Massachusetts; Revolution Wind, off Rhode Island; Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, off Virginia; and Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind 1, off New York.