Idaho’s Lava Ridge Wind Farm Faces a New Fight in Congress

1. Idaho — The LS Power Lava Ridge wind farm is now facing a fresh assault, this time from Congress — and the Trump team now seems to want a nuclear plant there instead.

• House Republicans this week advanced an Interior Department appropriations bill that would indefinitely halt federal funding for any permits related to the proposed wind facility “unless and until” the president reviews all of its permits issued under the Biden administration. Biden had completed permitting right before Trump took office.
• Trump had already ordered a stop to construction on the project as part of a Day 1 flurry of executive orders. But if this policy rider becomes law, it could effectively handcuff any future president after Trump from allowing Lava Ridge to move forward.
• While Democrats tend to view riders like these unfavorably and attempt to get rid of them, government funding packages require 60 votes in the Senate to break a filibuster, which often means partisan policies from funding bills passed by previous Congresses are challenging to get rid of and can stick around for long stretches of time.
• By that same logic, one would assume that the need to hit that 60 number now requires Democrats, so wouldn’t they need them and want to ditch this rider? Except one thing: it is exceedingly likely given past congressional fights that the party’s right flank in the House requests fresh concessions. Policy riders like these become chits in that negotiation – and I do expect this one to be an easy sop for this flank given the executive order is already in place.
• There’s also the whole matter of whether LS Power will try to proceed with this project under a future president amidst increasing pressure on the company. That’s likely why Sawtooth Energy, an energy developer interested in building new small modular nuclear reactors, is now eyeing the project site.

2. Suffolk County, New York — A massive fish market co-op in the Bronx is now joining the lawsuit to stop Equinor’s offshore Empire Wind project, providing anti-wind activists a powerful new ally in the public square.

• The Fulton Fish Market Cooperative claims to be one of the nation’s largest seafood clearinghouses and has joined the coalition of plaintiffs suing for an emergency stop-work order against Empire Wind, claiming it would be unduly harmed by construction and operation of the project. Their reasoning, like many in the seafood sector who’ve weighed in against offshore wind, is that the technology could impede fish stocks and vessel traffic. The CEO of the Fulton Fish Market recently joined activists at a rally against the project, alongside frequent critics of offshore wind like Protect Our Coast NJ.
• I see the entry of companies like this as a potential hazard for Empire Wind regardless of whether construction continues to progress forward. The reason is simple: Nothing is stopping the Trump administration from restoring the stop work order that was previously on the project. There hasn’t been any court ruling to complicate this matter, either. So the more publicity that arrives, the more likely it is that something unexpected happens. At least, that’s why I think activists opposed to the project are still rallying.

3. Madison County, New York — Elsewhere in New York, a solar project upstate seems to be galvanizing opposition to the state’s permitting primacy law.

• The state is currently progressing through the public comment period for the Oxbow Hill facility proposed by Cypress Creek Renewables, which has received more comments in opposition to it than support. Locals expect Oxbow Hill to be approved anyway, which they believe is a betrayal of democratic rights.
• To be honest, the points being raised by opponents on the ground are sort of the point of the state’s RAPID Act, which allows officials to override local concerns. Thanks to the accelerated timetable here, construction is expected to begin in 2026 and may allow the company to still claim federal clean electricity tax credits.

4. Fairfield County, Ohio — A trench war is now breaking out over National Grid Renewables’ Carnation Solar project, as opponents win a crucial victory at the county level.

• At the behest of activists who flooded recent meetings, Fairfield’s board of commissioners passed a resolution opposing Carnation, which does not formally block permitting of the project but does mean its host community is now officially against it.
• This resolution is crucial to whether the Ohio Power Siting Board — the state’s prevailing energy permitting authority — will rule that it is in the public’s interest and therefore should be approved. Locals are now waging a write-in campaign to the OPSB to create an avalanche of vocal opposition that may become a factor in the agency’s decision-making.

5. El Paso County, Colorado — I don’t write about Colorado often, but this situation is an interesting one.

• 174 Power Global is currently trying to build a large solar farm, Prairie Ridge, in the eastern portion of this rural county. As we’re used to seeing play out elsewhere, farmers there are concerned about runoff and drainage tile damage from the project. Not all voices are apparently opposed, however, and the developer is integrating agri-voltaics by having sheep grazing at the site.
• But the fact that this is an almost entirely undeveloped ranching community is leading to difficult media coverage. It also contributes to the county’s Heatmap Pro opposition risk score, which tells the story: El Paso has an 81 risk score, largely due to the community’s political volatility as well as protected lands.

6. St. Joseph County, Indiana — Something interesting is playing out in this county that demonstrates how it can be quite complicated to navigate municipal and county-level permitting.

• County councilors voted on party lines to enact an ordinance on solar projects providing for the development of utility-scale solar. It included a property value guarantee as a sweetener for aggrieved residents, but locals who showed up to the vote on the ordinance were mostly against it.
• Clearly, after a controversy ensued, the county’s Board of Commissioners was lobbied to veto the ordinance. But apparently that body has no authority to do such thing, to its own officials’ chagrin — only the zoning regulators do.
• The lesson here is that navigating one county can require political campaigns before a variety of bodies with various and sometimes competing powers.

7. Albemarle County, Virginia — It’s rare I get to tell a positive story about Virginia, but today we have one: It is now easier to build a solar farm in the county home to Charlottesville, one of my personal favorite small cities in our country.

• Under a new regulation, solar projects will be subject to specific rules around soil, bee protection and fenceline barriers. But solar can now be built on upwards of 20 acres at a time without new approvals, unless a certain amount of farmland or forest is impacted. (Neat idea!)