{"id":25306,"date":"2025-05-05T10:44:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T15:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/?p=25306"},"modified":"2025-05-05T15:48:03","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T20:48:03","slug":"100-days-of-trump-2-0-renewable-energy-siting-and-permitting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2025\/05\/05\/100-days-of-trump-2-0-renewable-energy-siting-and-permitting\/","title":{"rendered":"100 Days of Trump 2.0: Renewable Energy Siting and Permitting"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is part of a new Climate Law Blog series, 100 Days of Trump 2.0, in which the Sabin Center offers reflections on the first hundred days of President Trump\u2019s second term across a variety of climate-related topics. To read other posts from the series, click <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

President Trump retook the White House in the midst of a booming transition from fossil fuels to clean energy. In the first 100 days, the second Trump Administration has taken drastic measures to curb the momentum of that transition. This blog post will focus on the ways in which the Trump Administration has attempted to impede the siting and permitting of renewable energy facilities\u2014particularly offshore and onshore wind\u2014while, as other posts on this blog have addressed<\/a>, simultaneously seeking to expedite the siting and permitting of fossil fuel facilities.<\/p>\n

Background: Current Status of the Energy Transition<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Before we look at what the Trump Administration has done to obstruct the deployment of wind (and, to a lesser extent, solar) energy facilities, it is important to understand how much momentum the energy transition has recently picked up in the United States. In 2024, approximately 93% of new capacity<\/a> that came online nationwide was wind, solar, and battery storage. For the first time ever, the United States received more electricity in an 11-month period from wind and solar than from coal<\/a>. While fossil fuels still generated approximately 58% of electricity nationwide, wind and solar generated at least 33% of electricity in ten states<\/a>. Importantly, while tax credits have helped to speed up the energy transition, studies show that wind and solar are now among the cheapest forms of energy, even when subsidies are excluded<\/a>. In short, under present market conditions, renewables are poised for continued growth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump 2.0\u2019s Full Frontal Assault on Offshore and Onshore Wind\u2014and Collateral Damage to Other Renewables<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On the campaign trail last year, Trump promised<\/a> to \u201cmake sure that [offshore wind] ends on day one,\u201d specifying that he would \u201cwrite it out in an executive order.\u201d At the time, it was not clear exactly what the candidate\u2019s plans for \u201cending\u201d offshore wind would entail\u2014or how far he intended to go. Would he attempt to stop new lease sales, but leave the eight fully permitted projects<\/a> currently in development alone?<\/p>\n

So far, the second Trump Administration has opted for the most extreme approach. As discussed below, the Administration has moved to end all new leasing for offshore wind; freeze all federal permitting for offshore and onshore wind; and block construction of fully permitted projects, both by rescinding permits and by issuing stop-work orders. At least two federal agencies, the Interior Department<\/a> and the Army Corps of Engineers<\/a>, temporarily froze (but later resumed) permitting for solar, too. This section will look at some of the key developments.<\/p>\n

1. The January 20 memorandum<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The President\u2019s assault on wind energy began, as promised, on day one. Specifically, on January 20, 2025, Trump issued a presidential memorandum titled Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government\u2019s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects<\/a><\/em>. While the title of the memorandum was lengthy, it nonetheless failed to adequately capture the memorandum\u2019s breathtaking scope. The memorandum set out four lines of attack on wind energy projects:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Temporarily withdrawing \u201call areas\u201d within the outer-continental shelf from new leasing for offshore wind, thereby blocking any new lease sales for offshore wind projects;<\/li>\n
  2. Temporarily freezing all federal permitting for onshore and offshore wind, pending a \u201ccomprehensive assessment\u201d of the \u201cpotential inadequacies in various environmental reviews\u201d and of impacts on \u201cnavigational safety interests, transportation interests, national security interests, commercial interests, and marine mammals\u201d;<\/li>\n
  3. Temporarily imposing a moratorium on the construction and development of the fully-permitted Lava Ridge Wind Project<\/a> on federal land in Idaho; and<\/li>\n
  4. Encouraging the Attorney General to \u201cprovide notice\u201d of the January 20 memorandum to any court where litigation over federal permits for wind projects is pending and to \u201crequest that the court stay or otherwise delay further litigation.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Importantly, while the first three items in the list are described as \u201ctemporary\u201d measures, the memorandum did not specify an end date. In addition, the fourth and final item on the list seems to invite the U.S. Department of Justice to stop defending the federal governments\u2019 own permits for wind projects when those permits are challenged in court. This could be a real issue, as permits for several offshore wind projects, including South Fork Wind<\/a>, Revolution Wind<\/a>, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind<\/a>, and Vineyard Wind<\/a>, have been challenged in court.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/em><\/p>\n

    The memorandum is highly vulnerable to legal challenge, including on the basis that the permitting freeze and other actions are beyond the authority of the president, or \u201cultra vires.\u201d For example, there is no law that gives the president the authority to cease all permitting of wind projects or to issue a stop-work order on a fully permitted project. In addition, there is recent precedent<\/a> rejecting similar efforts to pause leasing (for oil and gas development) by the Biden Administration. Finally, while the memorandum suggested that environmental review for wind projects has been inadequate, that claim is completely baseless, as are the memorandum\u2019s vague insinuations about impacts to marine mammals. Indeed, a recent analysis<\/a> by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that NOAA Fisheries \u201cdoes not anticipate any death or serious injury to whales from offshore wind related actions and has not recorded marine mammal deaths from offshore wind activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

    2. Actions by federal agencies to halt the issuance of new permits<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Federal agencies quickly fell in line with the President\u2019s directive<\/a> that they \u201cshall not issue new or renewed approvals, rights of way, permits, leases, or loans for onshore or offshore wind projects.\u201d In a few instances, federal agencies even went beyond the presidential memorandum by targeting other renewables, too. Two noteworthy actions by federal agencies include:<\/p>\n