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Policy Watch

Offshore Wind’s Sign of Resilience

And more of the week’s top policy news around renewable energy.

Wind turbines.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

1. Offshore wind lease win – Two companies, Avangrid and Invenergy, purchased four of the eight leases up for grabs yesterday at the first floating offshore wind sale in the Gulf of Maine, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

  • I’ve previously chronicled how offshore wind is particularly vulnerable to the whims of the federal government and how if Donald Trump wins the presidency again, the entire U.S. sector could grind to a shrieking halt.
  • That’s why, as my colleague Emily Pontecorvo noted, the fact any leases were purchased at all is a surprise sign that not all momentum has stalled ahead of this consequential election.
  • “The fact that two developers took the leap now rather than waiting for 2028 – which is when the next lease sale in the Gulf of Maine is scheduled – shows some level of confidence in the long-term prospects for the industry,” she writes.

2. Community benefit plans – The Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office is letting the public in on its community benefit agreements, publishing three plans for a wire harness plant in Texas, a solar-plus-storage project on tribal lands in California, and the revived Holtec Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan.

  • The LPO emphasized labor and trade benefits involved in each project. We’ve previously explored how community benefit agreements can really help with getting local consent on a project, depending on how they’re structured.

3. Big ports money pour – The EPA yesterday debuted nearly $3 billion in IRA funding to port decarbonization projects ranging from direct acquisitions of zero-emission tech to internal emissions planning.

  • EPA stated projects will not receive all funding until remaining legal requirements have been met. I’d note environmental analysis of these funding decisions has been a factor in “permitting reform” talks in Washington.

Here’s what else I’m watching right now…

  • In Massachusetts, a compromise climate bill is temporarily taking a back seat to an economic development package.
  • In Rhode Island, a mayoral re-election bid is now infused with allegations of conflict-of-interest surrounding a solar farm, close friends, and Revity Energy.
  • In Wyoming, legislators rejected bills that would’ve curbed state eminent domain powers for carbon capture and renewables.

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Spotlight

Birds Could Be the Anti-Wind Trump Card

How the Migratory Bird Treaty Act could become the administration’s ultimate weapon against wind farms.

A golden eagle and wind turbines.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

The Trump administration has quietly opened the door to strictly enforcing a migratory bird protection law in a way that could cast a legal cloud over wind farms across the country.

As I’ve chronicled for Heatmap, the Interior Department over the past month expanded its ongoing investigation of the wind industry’s wildlife impacts to go after turbines for killing imperiled bald and golden eagles, sending voluminous records requests to developers. We’ve discussed here how avian conservation activists and even some former government wildlife staff are reporting spikes in golden eagle mortality in areas with operating wind projects. Whether these eagle deaths were allowable under the law – the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act – is going to wind up being a question for regulators and courts if Interior progresses further against specific facilities. Irrespective of what one thinks about the merits of wind energy, it’s extremely likely that a federal government already hostile to wind power will use the law to apply even more pressure on developers.

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Hotspots

New Mexico’s NIMBYs Vow to Fight Again in Santa Fe

And more on the week’s most important conflicts around renewable energy projects.

The United States.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

1. Santa Fe County, New Mexico – County commissioners approved the controversial AES Rancho Viejo solar project after months of local debate, which was rendered more intense by battery fire concerns.

  • Opposition to the nearly 100-megawatt solar project in the Santa Fe area was entirely predictable, per Heatmap Pro data, which shows overwhelming support for renewable energy in theory, yet an above average chance of NIMBYism arising. That genuine NIMBY quotient appears resilient, prompting even climate activist Bill McKibben to weigh in on the loud volume of the opposition.
  • The commission approved the project’s necessary permit on Tuesday after local fire officials cleared it on safety grounds. Opponents, however, led by an organization named Clean Energy Coalition for Santa Fe County, reportedly plan to sue over the approval, anyway.

2. Nantucket, Massachusetts – The latest episode of the Vineyard Wind debacle has dropped, and it appears the offshore wind project’s team is now playing ball with the vacation town.

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Q&A

Trump’s Take on Environmental Review Has Some Silver Linings

Talking NEPA implementation and permitting reform with Pamela Goodwin, an environmental lawyer at Saul Ewing LLP.

Pamela Goodwin.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

This week’s conversation is with Pamela Goodwin, an environmental lawyer with Saul Ewing LLP. I reached out to her to chat about permitting because, well, when is that not on all of our minds these days. I was curious, though, whether Trump’s reforms to National Environmental Policy Act regulations and recent court rulings on the law’s implementation would help renewables in any way, given how much attention has been paid to “permitting reform” over the years. To my surprise, there are some silver linings here – though you’ll have to squint to see them.

The following chat was lightly edited for clarity.

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