Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Wednesday that the administration will appeal a federal judge’s ruling blocking his department from enforcing a handful of policies that have stalled permits for solar and wind projects.
Burgum told the House Natural Resources Committee that the administration rejected the “whole premise” of an April decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Chief Judge Denise Casper issued a preliminary injunction striking down five DOI memos that renewable energy developers argued created a de facto blockade to their projects on public and private lands.
“The idea that a single judge could decide what the process that we’re supposed to go through internally to make sure that we’re complying with the law through a complex permitting process is absurd,” Burgum said in response to questions from Rep. Susie Lee (D-N.V.).
Burgum’s comments dim the chances of bipartisan permitting reform in Congress this year. Last month, two key senators said their support for legislation was conditional on DOI approving solar and wind projects following the preliminary injunction. Senate rules require most bills to pass with 60 votes, and the GOP currently has a 53-seat majority — making Democratic support key.
Lee said as much on Wednesday, stating that DOI’s enforcement of that July memo is standing in the way of broader permitting reform in Congress. “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,” Lee said to Burgum in the hearing.
Lee added that DOI’s actions — including a July 15 memo mandating a new three-tiered political review for all wind and solar permits, ending with Burgum’s office — have stalled 93% of all new energy capacity in Nevada.
She noted that Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, in a December podcast, said he had a conversation with President Donald Trump last year about the delays: “I walked President Trump through it, and he goes, ‘Okay, sounds good. I’m glad you brought it up. I’ll call Burgum and tell them it’s allowable in Nevada,’” Lombardo said.
Burgum didn’t confirm or deny a conversation with Trump in response to questions from Lee. And since then, Lee said, zero solar permits have been issued.
DOI’s policies have had impacts far beyond Nevada. A pipeline of more than 57 gigawatts of new solar and wind (both onshore and offshore) capacity is at risk of delay or cancellation beyond 2029, according to a study by Charles River Associates that Casper cited in her ruling. Those projects reflect an estimated $905 million in capital already committed, as well as between $8.4 billion and $25.6 billion in projected federal tax credits.
