In a press release Thursday, the department said all “decisions and actions concerning wind and solar energy facilities will undergo elevated review by the Office of the Secretary.”
This includes decisions to lease new land or water for wind and solar, approving projects on that land or water and on other activities like grants and assessments of endangered species impacts.
Critics say the move is likely to slow down the process of approving renewable energy projects on public lands and represents a further attack on the sector by the Trump administration.
Laura Daniel-Davis, who was the department’s acting No. 2 during the Biden administration, told The Hill that “the bottleneck of having to have everything flow up through the secretary’s office is going to delay” renewable projects.
Daniel-Davis said that in her experience, most energy projects — renewable and fossil fuel alike — did not go through the secretary’s office, and especially not at each and every waypoint outlined by the department.
“Today’s actions further deliver on President Trump’s promise to tackle the Green New Scam and protect the American taxpayers’ dollars,” acting Assistant Secretary for Lands and Minerals Management Adam Suess said in a statement.
Read more at TheHill.com.
