Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is leading a group of Energy and Natural Resources Committee Democrats urging appropriators to impose guardrails on the Trump administration’s enhanced scrutiny of solar and wind projects.
Cortez Masto sent a letter Monday, shared with POLITICO, to the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Interior-Environment and Energy-Water Appropriations subcommittees urging language in fiscal 2027 bills that “directs the agencies under your jurisdiction to permit energy projects fairly and without arbitrary technology-specific barriers.”
The Democrats are focusing on a policy requiring Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s personal approval for routine solar and wind permitting activities. A federal court rules against the directive but the administration has vowed to fight.
The Energy and Natural Resources lawmakers also want appropriators to act against an Interior policy to consider the “capacity density” of projects. There’s a similar directive at the Army Corps of Engineers. Capacity density weighs a project’s footprint relative to how much energy it can product.
