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Policy Watch

Chaos in the Climate Kingdom

This week’s top news in renewable energy policy.

turbines.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

1. Freeze, don’t move – The Trump administration this week attempted to freeze essentially all discretionary grant programs in the federal government. A list we obtained showed this would halt major energy programs and somehow also involve targeting work on IRA tax credits.

  • Despite a court ruling that was supposed to lift the freeze, key climate programs – like the EPA’s Solar For All effort – remain reportedly on ice.
  • Our guts here at Heatmap tell us there’ll be a lot more news to come on this front. Stay tuned.

2. Sorry, California – The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management canceled public meetings on the environmental impact statement for offshore wind lease areas in California, indicating the Trump wind lease pause will also affect pre-approval activities.

  • BOEM claimed the meeting was only “postponed,” but did not provide a date for rescheduling. “We will provide additional information as it becomes available,” the agency stated in a notice posted on Tuesday.

3. Idaho we go – Idaho Gov. Brad Little this week signed an executive order dubbed the SPEED Act aimed at expediting all energy projects, including potentially renewables, transmission, and mining projects.

  • The order creates an Idaho permitting council to “design, implement, and facilitate” a new coordinated permitting process. The council will also “identify sections of statute or administrative rule that are duplicative, unnecessary, or unreasonably prolong the state’s permitting process.”

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Spotlight

A Wave of Anti-Renewables Bills Hits State Legislatures

It’s not just Trump.

Texas and Oklahoma
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

State legislatures are now a crucial battleground for the future of renewable energy, as Republican lawmakers seek massive restrictions and punitive measures on new solar and wind projects.

Once a hyperlocal affair, the campaign to curtail renewable energy development now includes state-wide setbacks, regulations, and taxes curtailing wind and solar power. As we previously reported, Oklahoma is one of those states – and may as soon as this year enact mandatory setback requirements on wind power facilities, despite getting nearly half its electricity from wind farms. According to a Heatmap Pro analysis, these rules would affect 65 of Oklahoma’s 77 counties.

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Q&A

Why Offshore Wind Might Survive in the South

A conversation with Katharine Kollins of the Southeastern Wind Coalition

Katherine Kollins
Heatmap Illustration

This week’s conversation is with Katharine Kollins of the Southeastern Wind Coalition, an advocacy group that supports offshore wind development in the American Southeast. I wanted to talk with Katherine about whether there are any silver linings in the offshore wind space, and to my surprise she actually had one! Here’s to hope springing eternal – and Trump leaving Coastal Virginia intact.

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

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Hotspots

Renewables Developers Get Sweaty Palms Across America

Here are the week’s top conflicts around clean energy in the U.S.

Map of renewable energy conflicts.
Heatmap Illustration

1. Barnstable County, Massachusetts – The SouthCoast offshore wind project will now be delayed for at least four years, developer Ocean Winds said on Friday, confirming my previous reporting that projects Biden seemed to fully approve were still at risk from Trump.

  • Biden’s Interior Department had said in December the SouthCoast project was “approved.” But according to this federal permitting data clearinghouse, the project still needs clearances from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as well as the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers. We previously reported the Army Corps of Engineers had all but frozen wetlands permitting for wind projects. Jury’s out on whether that has changed.

2. Albany County, New York – A judge in this county has cast a cloud over tax abatement calculations for essentially all solar and wind projects in the state.

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