In his first term, President Donald Trump promised to save coal, but he got a renewable energy boom instead. Now, six months into his second term, he’s trying to avoid a repeat.
Trump has unleashed a regulatory and legislative blitz against wind and solar projects as U.S. electricity demand is projected to skyrocket. Republicans say Trump is trying to level the playing field after former President Joe Biden finalized large subsidies for renewable energy. But analysts argue that Trump is going much further than just canceling funding, by erecting roadblocks for projects that are already in the works.
That was evident last week when Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced that renewable energy projects would not move forward on public lands unless they are personally approved by him or his deputy. That is raising concerns among developers that the administration is planning to reject more projects.
“The Trump administration is extremely anti-renewables,” said Michael Wara, a senior research scholar at Stanford University. “I think this is fundamentally distorting the market and the broader transition that’s already occurring in the U.S. and occurring everywhere on the planet.”
A White House spokesperson credited Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s leadership, saying the administration’s policies were reducing inflation and strengthening national security.
“It’s great that Secretary Burgum is restoring accountability to taxpayers on green energy projects, which is in line with the American people’s mandate to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse across the administration and stop funding the Green New Scam,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement.
The move to clamp down on renewable projects through the Interior Department came as Trump has dismantled federal policies aimed at expanding wind and solar power, rolled back clean energy tax credits provided in the Inflation Reduction Act, and ended new wind leases on federal lands, while ordering a review of existing ones.
There was also an EPA order to remand an air permit for a planned offshore wind project off New Jersey, and an Interior Department order that halted work on another project in New York for a month. The administration also tried to impound green energy spending approved during the Biden administration, a decision that’s now before the courts.
That follows Trump’s earlier struggles to fulfill his promises to save the struggling coal industry. He abandoned a plan during his first term to bailout coal-fired power plants and instead saw electricity generation from wind, solar and other renewables surpass coal.
Burgum’s directive last week to review all renewable projects on federal lands escalates the administration’s attacks that until now have largely been directed at wind. Of the roughly 60 renewable projects listed on the Bureau of Land Management’s website, 39 are solar. They include some of the country’s biggest projects, like the Esmeralda Seven, a cluster of solar projects in central Nevada. At 6.2 gigawatts, it would produce enough electricity to power more than 1 million homes.
Those projects are getting harder to do. Renewable developers can still claim federal tax credits under the megalaw Trump signed earlier this month, but they would have to begin work right away to receive the money, analysts say, because of the tighter timelines imposed by the law. Burgum’s order could tie up projects for months, developers say, making it harder for them to complete construction while they’re eligible for the money.
Five renewable developers with projects on federal lands declined to comment or did not respond to questions about the order’s impact. There is widespread fear that the administration could target a company’s project if corporate officials criticize Trump’s policies, said one person who works at a renewable developer that builds projects on federal land. The person was granted anonymity to speak about industry discussions.
Another person described Burgum’s order as a “significant escalation” in the administration’s anti-renewable campaign, noting that it contains 69 regulatory actions that will need to be reviewed by Burgum and Deputy Interior Secretary Katharine MacGregor. They include minor regulatory actions that are often completed after a permit is issued, meaning fully permitted projects could potentially be halted.
Some renewable developers also worry that the order could delay projects on state and private land by leading them to consult with federal agencies like U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the Army Corps of Engineers.
“It’s one thing to take away our credits, but it’s another to basically just put impediments so projects can’t get built,” the person said, referring to IRA tax credits. “I mean, the level of review here is so ridiculous.”
An Interior spokesperson directed POLITICO’s E&E News to a previous statement that said the order would level the playing field for all energy sources operating on federal land. The order highlighted Burgum’s decision to end a Biden-era policy that cut fees related to acreage and capacity that are paid by renewable developers on federal land.
Casey Hammond, who served in the Interior Department during Trump’s first term, said the order might speed up the approval process if it leads to senior officials offering input on a project earlier in the process. But the downside for developers is the administration is likely to reject more projects, he added.
“What the administration values most is affordable, reliable, dispatchable power,” Hammond said.
The Trump administration has advanced some solar projects. Elisabeth Solar, a 270-megawatt project in Arizona, and Bonanza Solar, a 300-MW project in Nevada, have both moved forward under Trump. Bonanza is waiting on a record of decision, the final major permitting milestone before a project can start construction.
But other projects have languished. A final environmental impact statement for Esmeralda Seven was expected from BLM in April, and one for the 700-MW Copper Rays project in Nevada was due in May. Neither has been published.
Public lands play a relatively small but increasingly important role in renewable energy development in the U.S. BLM lists 23 GW of solar capacity in various stages of development on federal land. By comparison, the U.S. Energy Information Administration expects 34 GW of solar to come online this year alone. Another 36 GW is expected next year, with the same amount in 2027.
“For those sitting on federal land leases, it’s going to be painful,” said Shannon Maher Bañaga, a senior managing director at FTI Consulting who described herself as a Republican.
She said GOP attempts to slow some forms of energy, like renewables, marks a shift for a party that once touted the ability of free markets to deliver the most cost-effective and reliable forms of electricity.
“It’s been a constant struggle to just watch Republicans kind of put their thumb on the scale here, mostly because it’s just ironic given where our beliefs have been the last few decades,” she said.
This story also appears in Energywire.
