A handful of Senate Republicans are escalating their pressure on the Trump administration to back off its efforts to strangle new solar and wind energy projects, warning that potential cancellations would make it harder to meet growing power demand.
That push — which will include a meeting with administration officials — comes on the heels of the Interior Department’s new secretarial order calling for the identification of any “preferential treatment” toward wind and solar facilities in current regulations, guidance, policies and agency practices.
As part of the order, Interior will consider withdrawing onshore areas with high potential for wind energy development and study wind energy’s impacts on migratory birds.
On Wednesday, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said it was formally rescinding all areas in the U.S. outer continental shelf for offshore wind development.
