The Trump administration is taking new steps to stifle wind and solar energy development, requiring projects to get Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s personal signature to receive necessary permits.
The Interior Department announced on Thursday that all agency-related decisions and actions related to wind and solar energy facilities must undergo strict “elevated” reviews by the secretary’s office.
This includes leases, rights-of-way, construction plans, operations plans, grants, consultations, and biological opinions.
The increased oversight is meant to ensure all evaluations are “thorough and deliberative,” according to the department.
The Interior Department is also moving to end rights-of-way and capacity fee discounts for existing and future wind and solar projects, saying this will level the playing field with alternatives such as coal and natural gas.
The announcement comes one day after a memo was leaked to members of the press.
The department did not acknowledge the media reports of the memo in Thursday’s announcement, and instead insisted that the move would “further deliver on President Trump’s promise to tackle the Green New Scam.”
“American Energy Dominance is driven by U.S.-based production of reliable baseload energy, not regulatory favoritism towards unreliable energy projects that are solely dependent on taxpayer subsidies and foreign-sourced equipment,” acting Assistant Secretary for Lands and Minerals Management Adam Suess said.
This is the latest step from the Trump administration to suppress the wind and solar energy industries, as President Donald Trump and members of his Cabinet prop up traditional fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas.
Top energy members of Trump’s Cabinet have repeatedly said the administration would be reversing its predecessor’s goal to build out more renewable energy generation, saying it is not reliable and secure enough to support soaring demand brought on by artificial intelligence.
The administration supported congressional Republicans’ efforts to phase out federal subsidies for wind and solar power projects earlier this summer by passing the “one big, beautiful bill.”
Days later, Trump signed an executive order limiting which wind and solar projects can claim the tax credits. He specifically called on the Treasury Department to issue guidance to ensure that projects cannot skirt the deadlines for phasing out the credits in the law.
“We don’t want wind and we don’t want solar because they’re a blight on our country,” Trump said a day after signing the executive order. “They hurt our country very badly, and smart countries don’t use it.”
Wind and solar projects have dominated energy growth in the United States, outpacing natural gas, coal, and nuclear. In 2024, wind and solar projects added more than 33,000 megawatts of power combined, more than 90% of all new electricity generating capacity, according to estimates from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Clean energy advocates have credited quick deployment timelines and lowered costs for this immense growth, insisting that wind and solar will be the fastest way to add more power to the grid.
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However, the Trump administration has often criticized these energy sources for being intermittent and unreliable, as well as lacking substantial storage options, and, in many cases, being ugly to look at.
The memo was reportedly written by Gregory Wischer, deputy chief of staff for policy at the Interior Department, to align with previous executive orders signed by the president regarding energy.
