Trump administration order requires interior secretary to sign off on all wind and solar projects

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON AP All solar and wind resource projects on federal lands and waters must be personally approved by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum under a new order that authorizes him to conduct elevated review of exercises ranging from leases to rights-of-way construction and operational plans grants and biological opinions The enhanced oversight on clean-energy projects is aimed at ending preferential healing for unreliable subsidy-dependent wind and solar strength the Interior Department disclosed in a message Thursday The order will ensure all evaluations are thorough and deliberative on prospective projects on millions of acres of federal lands and offshore areas the department declared Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum listens to President Donald Trump speak during a cabinet meeting at the White House Tuesday July in Washington AP Photo Evan Vucci Clean-energy advocates reported the action could hamstring projects that need to be underway briskly to qualify for federal tax credits that are set to expire under the tax-cut and spending bill that President Donald Trump signed into law on July The law phases out credits for wind solar and other renewable strength while enhancing federal aid for fossil fuels such as coal oil and natural gas At a time when strength demand is skyrocketing adding more layers of bureaucracy and red tape for ability projects at the Interior Department is exactly the wrong approach explained Stephanie Bosh senior vice president of the Solar Power Industries Association There s no question this directive is going to make it harder to maintain our global artificial intelligence leadership and achieve vigor independence here at home FILE Pumpjacks operate in the foreground while a wind turbines at the Buckeye Wind Strength wind farm rise in the distance Monday Sept near Hays Kan AP Photo Charlie Riedel File In the statute Trump and GOP lawmakers moved to dismantle the circumstances law passed by Democrats under President Joe Biden And on July Trump signed an executive order that further restricts subsidies what for he called expensive and unreliable force policies from the Green New Scam That order was part of a deal the Republican president made with conservative House Republicans who were unhappy that the tax-cut bill did not without delay end all subsidies for clean resource A group of Republican senators including Alaska Sen Lisa Murkowski and Utah Sen John Curtis had pushed to delay phaseout of specific of the credits to allow currently planned projects to continue Trump has long expressed disdain for wind power describing it at a Cabinet meeting last week as an expensive form of vitality that smart countries do not use Even with the changes approved by the Senate the new law will likely crush improvement in the wind and solar industry and lead to a spike in Americans utility bills Democrats and environmental groups say They say it jeopardizes hundreds of renewable force projects intended to boost the nation s electric grid as demand is set to rise amid sharp upsurge from facts centers artificial intelligence and other uses Related Articles Trump is checked for swelling in legs and was diagnosed with a common condition in older adults Fear is the tool of a tyrant fired federal prosecutor Maurene Comey tells colleagues The House is poised to OK Trump s billion cut to constituents broadcasting and foreign aid State Department layoffs affect key Trump priorities like intelligence strength and China Consultant claiming White House backing called Colorado clerks to gain access to voting machines Level the playing field The Interior Department disclosed Thursday that Burgum s order will level the playing field for dispatchable cost-effective and secure strength sources such as coal and natural gas after years of assault under the previous administration American resource dominance is driven by U S -based production of reliable baseload capacity not regulatory favoritism towards unreliable potency projects that are solely dependent on taxpayer subsidies and foreign-sourced equipment declared Adam Suess the acting assistant secretary for lands and minerals management While Democrats complain the tax law will make it harder to get renewable vigor to the electric grid Republicans say it supports production of traditional potential sources such as oil gas and coal as well as nuclear power increasing reliability In the Senate compromise wind and solar projects that begin construction within a year of the law s enactment are allowed to get a full tax credit without a deadline for when the projects are placed in amenity or plugged into the grid Wind and solar projects that begin later must be placed in arrangement by the end of to get a credit The law retains incentives for technologies such as advanced nuclear geothermal and hydropower through