By NATE RAYMOND Reuters
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BOSTON — A coalition of Democratic state attorneys general sued on Monday in a bid to block President Donald Trump’s move to suspend leasing and permitting of new wind projects, saying it threatens to cripple the wind industry and a key source of clean energy.

Seventeen states and the District of Columbia in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Boston argued that the decision by the Republican president’s administration to indefinitely pause all federal wind-energy approvals is unlawful and must be blocked.

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The lawsuit, led by New York state, accused Trump of exceeding his authority and said his administration violated federal administrative law by not offering any detailed justification for the suspension.

“This administration is devastating one of our nation’s fastest-growing sources of clean, reliable and affordable energy,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, said in a statement.

The lawsuit seeks a court order declaring the indefinite pause unlawful and barring the agencies including the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency from implementing Trump’s directive.

Trump announced the pause on his first day back in office on January 20 when he directed his administration in a presidential memorandum to halt offshore wind lease sales and stop the issuance of permits, leases and loans for both onshore and offshore wind projects.

He did so while also moving to ramp up the federal government’s support for the fossil fuel industry and maximize output in the United States, the world’s top oil and gas producer, after campaigning for the presidency on the refrain of “drill, baby, drill.”