The Trump administration is moving to add fresh obstacles to wind and solar development on millions of acres of federal land, according to an Interior Department memo released late Friday.
What Happened: As detailed in a report by The Hill, the directive brands large-scale renewables as "highly inefficient uses of Federal lands" and says officials will permit only projects that represent "the most appropriate land use when compared to a reasonable range of project alternatives," with a follow-up report outlining further actions due within 45 days.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum defended the policy in blunt terms. "Gargantuan, unreliable, intermittent energy projects hold America back from achieving U.S. Energy Dominance while weighing heavily on the American taxpayer and environment," he wrote in a statement.
All rights-of-way, leases and construction plans for wind and solar must now be approved in Burgum's office, replacing a decade-old system that delegated most permits to career staff.
The memo echoes a companion order issued this week that compares renewables unfavorably to nuclear, gas and coal plants and calls their land demands "inefficient" by "common sense, arithmetic, and physics."
See Also: Trump Probing Jack Smith Could Expose Evidence In Open Court, Warns Ex-Prosecutor
Why It Matters: Renewable-energy developers say the added scrutiny amounts to a slow-motion moratorium. "Depending on how it's ultimately implemented, it could have serious implications for new projects moving forward," said Gene Grace, general counsel for the American Clean Power Association, in a statement shared with The Hill. Association vice-president John Hensley noted that turbines and panels disturb only about 1% of a project's total footprint, "Wind in particular is very efficient if you look at the land that's truly altered."
The directive follows a July order requiring Burgum's personal sign-off on every renewable permit and comes amid efforts to reverse fee cuts for projects on public lands, says Reuters. It also lands weeks after Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" accelerated the phase-out of federal tax credits, a move that hammered solar stocks.
Most U.S. wind and solar facilities sit on private acreage because federal leases are costlier and slower to secure, researchers tell Reuters, a gap critics say will widen under the new rules. Experts also tell The Washington Post that tighter permitting, coupled with shrinking incentives, could disrupt the administration's pledge to meet surging data-center demand without spiking power costs.
During a Cabinet meeting in early July, President Donald Trump called wind and solar power a "blight," insisting "smart countries don't use it," as his administration continues unwinding Biden-era subsidies and permits for renewables. Trump later told European leaders they were "ruining your beautiful fields and valleys" with windmills unless they "get their act together."
Photo Courtesy: hrui on Shutterstock.com
Read Next:
