The Bureau of Land Management’s retirees organization is asking Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to rescind a new policy that requires his approval on any action advancing solar and wind power projects under federal permitting review.
Mary Jo Rugwell, president of the Public Lands Foundation, wrote in a letter sent Thursday to Burgum that the policy outlined in a July 15 memorandum “will only constrain the further development of abundant and reliable supplies of renewable energy.”
What’s more, the policy runs counter “to the delegated authorities of BLM Field Managers and State Directors and will only create unnecessary delays in the permitting process for increasing energy supplies in the U.S.,” she wrote. “After years of efforts to return land management decisions to BLM Field Managers and State Directors, this memorandum upends the public involvement and BLM decision-making process.”
Rugwell’s letter comes two weeks after Gregory Wischer, the Interior Department’s deputy chief of staff for policy, sent a memo to assistant secretaries and bureau and office heads directing that all “decisions, actions, consultations, and other undertakings … related to wind and solar energy facilities” now require “final review” by Burgum, and must also be sent for “subsequent review” and approval to Deputy Secretary Kate MacGregor.
