Trump administration to appeal court ruling against solar and wind crackdown

When asked if the administration would be appealing the ruling, Burgum said, “Absolutely.” 

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. 

The policies in question were implemented last July via a memo from Burgum with the intent to “end preferential treatment for unreliable, subsidy-dependent wind and solar energy.”

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 intended to streamline environmental reviews, and an order that effectively barred wind and solar projects on federal land. 

Burgum was pressed on whether the agency would abide by the court’s injunction during Wednesday’s hearing, and did not directly answer whether he would. 

“I mean, we have three separate equal branches of government that each have their own responsibilities, and ours is to execute on the permitting responsibilities that we have,” Burgum said. 

Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) pushed back against the directive, telling Burgum that there have been “zero permits” issued for wind and solar power projects in her state of Nevada over the last year, despite support from state leadership.

She asked the secretary to abide by the injunction and begin approving permits for new renewable energy projects to support the U.S.’s efforts to get ahead in the artificial intelligence arms race. 

The Democratic congresswoman also claimed that the memo, as it remains in place, is derailing bipartisan efforts to pass meaningful permitting reform. 

“When you’re looking at permitting reform, the single thing that prevents it from happening is this memo, this July 15 memo that is stalling,” Lee said. “If you would just rescind that memo, we could get permitting reform passed this Congress, and we can start to talk about permitting all forms of energy.”