The solar power industry wants Congress to step in and overrule a Trump administration policy that it says is threatening hundreds of solar projects on federal, state and private lands.
A coalition of representatives from 143 solar companies and industry trade groups sent a letter Thursday to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), taking aim at an Interior Department policy that is “effectively halting permitting for solar energy projects.”
The policy at issue, outlined in a July 15 Interior memorandum, requires that Interior Secretary Doug Burgum must sign off on almost all aspects of a solar or wind project application, from whether to begin a formal project review to the decision approving or rejecting it.
That memo lists 69 items requiring Burgum’s approval for solar and wind — some are as preliminary as “preconstruction environmental surveys” and “facility design reports,” as well as “access road authorizations.”
