PORTLAND, June 13 -- The most consequential thing the Trump administration has done to American wind power this spring did not arrive as an executive order. It arrived as silence. National security reviews that the Pentagon used to complete in weeks have, for months, simply stopped issuing. On Thursday, the industry that depends on them filed suit in federal court here, accusing the Defense Department of running out the clock on an entire industry without ever saying no.

The plaintiffs are nine renewable energy groups, including Renewable Northwest and the Advanced Power Alliance, and the defendant is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Associated Press reported. The complaint, filed in US District Court for the District of Oregon, asks ...