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Hotspots

Trump’s Justice Department Goes to Bat for Offshore Wind in Maryland

And more of the week’s top news in renewable energy fights.

Map of renewable energy fights.
Heatmap Illustration

1. Waldo County, Maine – The Republican-led bid to stop an offshore wind industrial site on Sears Island has failed.

  • As we told you, GOP legislators introduced a measure to extend an existing conservation easement to stop construction of an assembly site for floating offshore wind projects that political leaders hoped to build in the Gulf of Maine.
  • This bill failed yesterday, garnering less than a majority of support in a vote before the state Senate.

2. Atlantic County, N.J. – We’re expecting a decision any minute now in the fight over EPA’s decision to rescind a crucial air permit for the Atlantic Shores’ offshore wind project.

  • Deliberations before the EPA’s appeals board have reached a boiling point, with Atlantic Shores’ attorneys arguing that the decision cast a pall over the agency’s air permitting regime. Predictably, the EPA has defended its decision, which was prompted by President Donald Trump’s anti-wind executive order.
  • Late yesterday, Atlantic Shores filed a reply to the EPA’s defense – and we’re expecting a decision to come down any minute after. We’ll tell you when it comes.

3. Worcester County, Maryland – This may surprise you but the Trump administration’s Justice Department argued against opponents of offshore wind.

  • Justice Department attorneys filed a motion on March 31 refuting claims filed by coastal towns opposed to the U.S. Wind project off the coast of Maryland under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Coastal Zone Management Act – two of the statutes cited in the lawsuit challenging permits for the project.
  • The filing didn’t argue against the entirety of the opponents’ claims – just those citing these specific environmental statutes. DOJ’s argument appears to surround the precedent potentially set by these claims; for example, the government’s lawyers put forward that the opponents of the offshore wind project misused the Migratory Bird Treaty Act against the federal government’s authorizations of activities that impact species.
  • “The MBTA cannot be enforced against a federal agency for permitting a project that could someday result in incidental take of migratory birds,” the filing stated.
  • It is unclear if this means the DOJ will stand idle while opponents challenge the permits on other grounds.

4. Wake County, North Carolina – Legislators in Tar Heel County are considering a bill to remove solar tax credits for projects on farmland.

  • The bill, which received a hearing earlier this week in the North Carolina Statehouse, will require approval from multiple committees before receiving a full vote and it is unclear if it has the legs to go the distance this session.

5. Lawrence County, Alabama – It looks like at least one solar project in Alabama could get the Trump administration’s blessing.

  • Quietly, the EPA gave its conditional sign off on March 3 to the Tennessee Valley Authority for a power purchase agreement allowing it to use energy from the 200-megawatt Hillsboro Solar project backed by Urban Grid.
  • The EPA’s comments stating officials did not “identify significant environmental concerns” with the project can be found here.

6. Jay County, Indiana – We have a new place to watch for a renewable energy moratorium, folks.

  • For weeks, county officials have been whittling away at potential year-long moratoriums on new battery projects and solar projects and just held a county meeting last night to take public comment on these potential bans. We’ll update you when we know more.

7. Renville County, Minnesota – A 200-megawatt Ranger Solar project is nearing final permits from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.

  • The administrative law judge overseeing the project – known as Gopher State Solar – told attendees of a recent hearing they’d reach a final decision as soon as June 2. Mark your calendars!

8. Whitman County, Washington – Steelhead Americas is giving up on getting permission from county leaders and going straight to the state for its Harvest Hills wind project.

  • Opposition to Harvest Hills – largely rooted in viewshed and environmental concerns – led to development of a county wind ordinance, but Steelhead Americas has reportedly determined there is no path to a “workable ordinance” for the project. Instead it’ll be seeking the state route instead, which bypasses local zoning laws.

9. Apache County, Arizona – Officials in this county are working on a draft renewable energy ordinance with “preferred area[s] that’ll be reviewed as soon as next month, according to one local report.

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Spotlight

How the Tax Bill Is Empowering Anti-Renewables Activists

A war of attrition is now turning in opponents’ favor.

Massachusetts and solar panels.
Heatmap Illustration/Library of Congress, Getty Images

A solar developer’s defeat in Massachusetts last week reveals just how much stronger project opponents are on the battlefield after the de facto repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Last week, solar developer PureSky pulled five projects under development around the western Massachusetts town of Shutesbury. PureSky’s facilities had been in the works for years and would together represent what the developer has claimed would be one of the state’s largest solar projects thus far. In a statement, the company laid blame on “broader policy and regulatory headwinds,” including the state’s existing renewables incentives not keeping pace with rising costs and “federal policy updates,” which PureSky said were “making it harder to finance projects like those proposed near Shutesbury.”

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Hotspots

The Midwest Is Becoming Even Tougher for Solar Projects

And more on the week’s most important conflicts around renewables.

The United States.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

1. Wells County, Indiana – One of the nation’s most at-risk solar projects may now be prompting a full on moratorium.

  • Late last week, this county was teed up to potentially advance a new restrictive solar ordinance that would’ve cut off zoning access for large-scale facilities. That’s obviously bad for developers. But it would’ve still allowed solar facilities up to 50 acres and grandfathered in projects that had previously signed agreements with local officials.
  • However, solar opponents swamped the county Area Planning Commission meeting to decide on the ordinance, turning it into an over four-hour display in which many requested in public comments to outright ban solar projects entirely without a grandfathering clause.
  • It’s clear part of the opposition is inflamed over the EDF Paddlefish Solar project, which we ranked last year as one of the nation’s top imperiled renewables facilities in progress. The project has already resulted in a moratorium in another county, Huntington.
  • Although the Paddlefish project is not unique in its risks, it is what we view as a bellwether for the future of solar development in farming communities, as the Fort Wayne-adjacent county is a picturesque display of many areas across the United States. Pro-renewables advocates have sought to tamp down opposition with tactics such as a direct text messaging campaign, which I previously scooped last week.
  • Yet despite the counter-communications, momentum is heading in the other direction. At the meeting, officials ultimately decided to punt a decision to next month so they could edit their draft ordinance to assuage aggrieved residents.
  • Also worth noting: anyone could see from Heatmap Pro data that this county would be an incredibly difficult fight for a solar developer. Despite a slim majority of local support for renewable energy, the county has a nearly 100% opposition risk rating, due in no small part to its large agricultural workforce and MAGA leanings.

2. Clark County, Ohio – Another Ohio county has significantly restricted renewable energy development, this time with big political implications.

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Q&A

How a Heatmap Reader Beat a Battery Storage Ban

A conversation with Jeff Seidman, a professor at Vassar College.

Jeffrey Seidman.
Heatmap Illustration

This week’s conversation is with Jeff Seidman, a professor at Vassar College and an avid Heatmap News reader. Last week Seidman claimed a personal victory: he successfully led an effort to overturn a moratorium on battery storage development in the town of Poughkeepsie in Hudson Valley, New York. After reading a thread about the effort he posted to BlueSky, I reached out to chat about what my readers might learn from his endeavors – and how they could replicate them, should they want to.

The following conversation was lightly edited for clarity.

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