Diving brief:
- President Donald Trump began his second term Monday with a series of executive orders, including one that temporarily removes all federal waters from consideration for offshore wind leasing, and suspends permitting, approvals and loans for all onshore and offshore wind projects. Administration pick for Interior secretary, former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, will lead comprehensive assessment of federal wind energy leasing and permitting practices, says the order.
- Trump’s order cites “various alleged legal deficiencies underlying” the federal government’s leasing and permitting of wind projects, and fears that the projects could result in “adverse impacts on the security interests of navigation, transportation, national security, commercial interests and marine mammals. »
- Trump also issued executive orders Monday declaring an energy emergency and a regulatory freeze.
Dive overview:
While Trump has been a vocal critic of onshore and offshore wind production, North Dakota has become a national leader in onshore wind production under Burgum, who took office as governor in 2016. Wind energy production more than doubled in the state between 2015 and 2023, according to the United States Energy Information Administrationand currently provides 36% of the state’s electricity.
“This withdrawal will take effect from January 21, 2025 and will remain in effect until this presidential memorandum is revoked,” the order said. Critical offshore wind representative Jeff Van Drew, RN.J. said last week that Trump had asked him to write the executive order and that the pause would last six months, according to an AP News report.
In a statement Monday, Jason Grumet, CEO of the American Clean Power Association, said the group “strongly supports President Trump’s efforts to reform the permitting process to accelerate the development of all forms of generation of national energy.
“President Trump is right that without significant changes in energy policy, our country will not be able to drive our growth in manufacturing and achieve digital dominance that is essential to security nationally while reducing consumers’ energy bills,” Grumet said. But, he added, “the ACP strongly opposes broad measures to stop or prevent the development of domestic wind energy on federal lands and waters.”
“The contradiction between the energy-focused decrees is glaring: while on the one hand the administration seeks to reduce bureaucracy and free energy production, on the other it increases bureaucratic barriers, compromising national energy development and harming American businesses and workers,” he said. .
The Natural Resources Defense Council issued a statement Monday noting that “wind energy today provides more than 10 percent of America’s electricity, making it the largest source of renewable energy” and that “among onshore wind projects, 99% are on private land, so they can’t be operated.” be blocked by federal action.
“The top four wind energy producing states are: Texas, Iowa, Oklahoma and Kansas,” the NRDC said. “The industry employs more than 131,000 Americans in all 50 states, including 20,000 in the wind energy sector.”
Trump’s energy emergency executive order states that the United States’ “identification, leasing, development, production, transportation, refining and manufacturing capacity” for energy and critical minerals “is well too insufficient to meet the needs of our nation.”
The order directs the heads of federal departments and agencies to “identify and exercise any lawful emergency authorities…to facilitate the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining and production of national energy resources, including, but not limited to, federal energy resources. land” and “accelerate the completion of all authorized and appropriate infrastructure, energy, environmental and natural resource projects.”
The regulatory freeze order prevents executive departments and agencies from proposing or issuing new rules until a Trump appointee takes control of the department or agency, and reviews and approves the ruler.
The order also directs departments and agencies to immediately withdraw all rules that have been sent to the Office of the Federal Register but have not yet been published.
“If actions taken before noon on January 20, 2025 are identified that defeat the purpose underlying this memorandum, I may amend or extend this memorandum to require that department and agency heads consider to take steps to respond to these actions,” the order states. said.
