Trump Orders New Red Tape for Wind and Solar on Federal Land

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(Bloomberg) — Wind and solar projects being constructed on federal land will be required to undergo a new review process at the Interior Department, under a new Trump administration directive that could slow the approval of projects. 

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The directive, announced Thursday, will require sign-off from the Office of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum following an elevated review of decisions related to leases, rights-of-way, construction, operation plans, grants and more, the department said in a statement. 

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The announcement, which follows a deal struck with members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus over subsidies for renewables in exchange for their support of President Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending package, comes as the administration has lambasted renewable energy and favored fossil fuels. 

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The Interior Department said the action was needed to end “preferential treatment for unreliable, subsidy-dependent wind and solar energy” and also included a move to “eliminate longstanding right-of-way and capacity fee discounts for existing and future wind and solar projects, bringing an end to years of subsidies for economically unviable energy development.”

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The Interior Department, which oversees hundreds of millions of acres of federally owned land and waters, has wide latitude over energy projects built using public land, which is currently home to 4% of US renewable energy generation. That figure was projected to increase to as much as 12.5% by 2035, according to an Energy Department report.

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In April, Burgum halted work on Equinor ASA’s $5 billion Empire Wind farm off the coast of New York, but then reversed the decision a month later after the administration reached a deal with New York Governor Kathy Hochul to open the way for new gas pipelines to be built in the state. Torgrim Reitan, Equinor’s chief financial officer, said in an interview last month that further investments in US offshore wind are likely off the table.

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Interior’s new policy will delay the build out of solar and wind projects on federal land by lengthening project and construction approvals, Capstone LLC, a consulting firm, said in a note to clients Thursday. 

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“The Secretary of the Interior will apparently now be personally reviewing thousands of documents and permit applications for everything from the location and types of fences to the grading of access roads on construction sites across the country, ” Jason Grumet, the American Clean Power Association’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.

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The move was panned by environmental groups including Evergreen Action, which characterized it as a “politically motivated attack.” 

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“Let’s speak plainly: This is economic sabotage,” said Lena Moffitt, the group’s executive director. “We can’t afford to let this administration bully an American grown industry out of existence to protect their fossil fuel backers.”

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