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Doug Burgum, U.S. Secretary of the Interior speaks during the Pennsylvania Energy And Innovation Summit 2025 at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh on July 15, 2025
David A. Grogan | CNBC
Solar and wind projects that need federal permitting will face even closer scrutiny by the Trump administration, with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum now making the final decision on whether they proceed on U.S.-owned lands.
Burgum will now have “final review” of leases, rights-of-way, construction plans and every other aspect of the Interior Department’s federal permitting process for wind and solar projects, according to an internal memo published by the department on Thursday.
The Interior Department said in a statement that it is “levelling the playing field” for coal and natural gas “after years of assault” by Biden administration. The renewable industry’s main lobby group the American Clean Power Association said the action amounted to politically motivated obstruction.
“The Interior Department adds three new layers of needless process and unprecedented political review to the construction of domestic energy projects,” ACP CEO Jason Grumet said in a statement.
“This isn’t oversight. It’s obstruction that will needlessly harm the fastest growing sources of electric power,” Grumet said.
Interior is adding bureaucracy and red tape that will slow electricity production growth at a time when demand is rising from artificial intelligence data centers, said Stephanie Bosh, a spokesperson at the Solar Energy Industries Association.
“It is deeply unfortunate that this administration’s energy policy continues to favor specific technologies rather than advance true American energy dominance,” Bosh said in a statement.
Interior’s action is the latest blow delivered to the renewable energy industry by the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress. President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act terminates key tax incentives that have supported the growth of wind and solar projects in the U.S.
Trump issued an executive order shortly after the legislation passed that called for Interior “to eliminate preferential treatment for wind and solar facilities compared to reliable, dispatchable energy sources,” a reference to coal, natural gas and nuclear power.
About 5% of solar projects and 1% of wind projects are located on federal land, according to ACP.
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