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Policy Watch

Trump’s Energy Direction: 5 Early Takeaways

And more on this week’s top policy and energy news.

Trump and wind.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images.

Trump’s energy direction – We’re far enough into the Trump 2.0 transition that I can offer a few specific insights having covered him the first go-around.

  1. Trump’s pick for Interior Secretary Doug Burgum indicates any form of energy or resource extraction prevalent in his state of North Dakota could be safe from the wrath of political meddling in permitting. That includes onshore wind and battery metals.
  2. Trump’s selection for Energy Secretary – gas CEO Chris Wright – indicates even more reason for optimism about mining given the heavy overlap between companies in historic fracking development and U.S. lithium industry growth.
  3. Trump’s EPA pick Lee Zeldin previously backed legislation to ease permitting for renewable energy, though I anticipate from his lack of agency leadership experience that he’ll be more deferential to political directions than a former governor or CEO.
  4. Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick was chosen for the Commerce Department, which will dictate tariff proposals. Although Cantor Fitzgerald itself supports the “megatrend” that is the energy transition, I expect China hawkishness to prevail above fear of short-term impact on American renewables projects.
  5. Even with all this, you should expect the deputy picks to matter for solar and wind. Trump 1.0 began with figurehead agency leaders (Ryan Zinke at Interior, Scott Pruitt at EPA) and an empowered assistant administrator, who was usually a former lobbyist or ideologue. I’m anticipating the same here.

New hydrogen hub backing – The Energy Department has announced more than $2.2 billion in cost-sharing agreements with two more hydrogen hubs in the Midwest and Gulf Coast.

  • Both hubs appear to rely on both renewable energy and natural gas to get their jobs done. Given the uncertainty surrounding Trump’s views on hydrogen, it’s likely this move is intended to get out ahead of any effort to claw back funds from the infrastructure law and Inflation Reduction Act.

Here’s what else I’m watching…

A Virginia Circuit Court has struck down Governor Glenn Youngkin’s attempt to withdraw the state from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed new legislation creating new tax breaks and financing for offshore wind as she defiantly insists the industry will continue to grow during the Trump 2.0 era.

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Spotlight

How a Tiny Community Blocked Battery Storage in Over Half of Los Angeles County

Much of California’s biggest county is now off limits to energy storage.

Wildfire and battery storage.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images, Library of Congress

Residents of a tiny unincorporated community outside of Los Angeles have trounced a giant battery project in court — and in the process seem to have blocked energy storage projects in more than half of L.A. County, the biggest county in California.

A band of frustrated homeowners and businesses have for years aggressively fought a Hecate battery storage project proposed in Acton, California, a rural unincorporated community of about 7,000 residents, miles east of the L.A. metro area. As I wrote in my first feature for The Fight over a year ago, this effort was largely motivated by concerns about Acton as a high wildfire risk area. Residents worried that in the event of a large fire, a major battery installation would make an already difficult emergency response situation more dangerous. Acton leaders expressly opposed the project in deliberations before L.A. County planning officials, arguing that BESS facilities in general were not allowed under the existing zoning code in unincorporated areas.

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Hotspots

A Hawk Headache for Washington’s Biggest Wind Farm

And more of the week’s top news about renewable energy conflicts.

The United States.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

1. Benton County, Washington – A state permitting board has overridden Governor Bob Ferguson to limit the size of what would’ve been Washington’s largest wind project over concerns about hawks.

  • In a unanimous decision targeting Horse Heaven Wind Farm, the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council determined that no turbines could be built within two miles of any potential nests for ferruginous hawks, a bird species considered endangered by the state. It’s unclear how many turbines at Horse Heaven will be impacted but reports indicate at least roughly 40 turbines – approximately 20% of a project with a 72,000-acre development area.
  • Concerns about bird deaths and nest disruptions have been a primary point of contention against Horse Heaven specifically, cited by the local Yakama Nation as well as raised by homeowners concerned about viewsheds. As we told you last year, these project opponents as well as Benton County are contesting the project’s previous state approval in court. In July, that battle escalated to the Washington Supreme Court, where a decision is pending on whether to let the challenge proceed to trial.

2. Adams County, Colorado – This is a new one: Solar project opponents here are making calls to residents impersonating the developer to collect payments.

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Q&A

Trump Cuts Solar Industry’s Experiments to Win Hearts and Minds

A conversation with David Gahl of SI2

The Fight Q&A subject.
Heatmap Illustration

This week I spoke with David Gahl, executive director of the Solar and Storage Industries Institute, or SI2, which is the Solar Energy Industries Association’s independent industry research arm. Usually I’d chat with Gahl about the many different studies and social science efforts they undertake to try and better understand siting conflicts in the U.S.. But SI2 reached out first this time, hoping to talk about how all of that work could be undermined by the Trump administration’s grant funding cuts tied to the government shutdown. (The Energy Department did not immediately get back to me with a request for comment for this story, citing the shutdown.)

The following conversation was edited lightly for clarity.

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