Interior Secretary Doug Burgum lambasted a district court ruling that ordered the agency to end a set of policies that has delayed federal permitting for wind and solar projects on federal lands, and he avoided committing to complying with the ruling.
Earlier in April, a federal judge in Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction in favor of a group of clean energy advocacy and trade groups that claimed the administration had unlawfully implemented policies preventing the development of renewable energy resources.
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These policies included requiring nearly every step of the federal permitting process for wind and solar to receive direct approval from the interior secretary, prohibiting renewable developers from using an online government tool aimed at streamlining environmental reviews, and an order that effectively barred wind and solar projects on federal land.
During a fiscal 2027 budget hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday, Burgum was pressed on whether the agency will comply with the injunction.
The secretary did not directly answer the question, telling committee ranking member Martin Heinrich (D-NM) that the administration opposes the ruling.
“First of all, we disagree vehemently with, with a [District Court] judges’ view that somehow having appropriate reviews of energy projects and our internal procedures is —” Burgum said, before Heinrich cut him off.
The New Mexico Democrat said the agency has slow-walked permits for certain projects and asked a second time if Burgum would follow the court ruling.
“There was an injunction, are you going to comply with that judge’s order?” Heinrich said.
Burgum, again, did not directly answer if the agency would comply with the injunction, instead saying, “The solicitor’s department will respond to any act of litigation. But as I said, we disagree. We disagree with this.”
The Interior Department declined to provide any additional comment.
Burgum attempted to shift the conversation to focus on permitting delays under former President Joe Biden.
While the Biden administration outpaced the first Trump administration in oil and gas drilling permit approvals in its first two years, Biden approved a number of regulations limiting where oil and gas development could occur on federal lands due to environmental risks and paused federal approvals for liquefied natural gas export facilities.
“I would be thrilled if there was going to be unanimity about not having the thumb on the scale, because we just came out of four … we came out of four years of that,” Burgum said.
Sen. Angus King (I-ME) criticized the secretary for using that argument as reasoning for delaying issuing permits for renewable energy, saying the permitting process must be “neutral, fact-based, consistent, and predictable.”
King, who said that he is in favor of permitting reform, told the secretary that Senate Republicans will not be able to secure enough votes to pass meaningful legislation if the administration fails to provide assurance that it would implement reforms equally across all energy resources.
“It would really help if you would move those permits that are sitting on your desk,” King said. “That would be a gesture of good faith, because my concern is you’re not following a court order, we could pass a statue and you wouldn’t follow that either. So indicate — show us that you’re committed to this even-handed process by moving those permits that are sitting on your desk for solar and wind.”
Burgum said an even-handed permitting system would be “fantastic,” and later affirmed that he is willing to process wind and solar projects. However, he repeatedly indicated that the administration would be pushing against last week’s court order.
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“It’s absurd to me that a court would say that we can’t review projects,” he said. “That’s basically what it says.”
Democrats on the committee hit back on that notion, with Heinrich saying, “You can review projects, but at some point you have to make a decision.”
