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Policy Watch

Nothing Is Safe from Trump

The week’s top news around renewable energy policy.

Trump.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

1. Forget about the IRA – As the dust has settled post-election, it’s becoming clearer far more than the IRA is at stake in the coming Trump 2.0 administration – namely, whether what people expect in the normal course of governing will resume at all.

  • Case in point: Massachusetts electeds just learned they will not be able to complete talks on new offshore wind procurement contracts until after Trump takes office. Will any of these projects even be able to pursue federal permits?
  • Or take statutes and agencies once considered sacrosanct. Overnight, The Washington Post reported Trump may seek to unilaterally cut programs with expired authorizations. That includes the Energy Policy Act of 2005 – and the statute creating NOAA.
  • I covered Trump from the day he was sworn in, with most of my time spent in Congress. And I’ve kept tabs with some in his braintrust over the years. So I can tell you confidently: expect the unexpected, and don’t count on your permits.

2. Money and time – Biden agencies are (predictably) starting to get rules out the door to wrap up whatever they can before Trump takes office.

  • The EPA just finished its methane flaring rule and the BLM put out a new proposed sage grouse strategy. Heatmap previously reported the IRA’s hydrogen tax credit will also get this treatment.
  • I’d expect the Energy Department to also get as many contracts and dollars out of the door so they can’t be impounded or rescinded. My vibe checks with lobbyist friends indicate they believe all bets are off once Trump 2.0 begins.
  • Are there any regulations or financing decisions you’re watching for in the final days? Give us a holler.

3. California counter-weight – California regulators just approved updates to their fuel standard that will accelerate adoption of lower-emissions cars.

  • The state is also convening a special legislative session to consider additional measures to prepare for legal and regulatory challenges from Trump 2.0, including climate. The last Trump administration had sought to undo the state’s EPA waiver allowing stricter vehicle emissions standards than federal ones.

4. Compensation fund – East Coast states this week announced they would select BrownGreer and the Carbon Trust to help create a compensation fund for fishermen impacted by offshore wind.

  • The fund is intended to give money that can offset the costs of any reduction in fish stocks or fishing periods from developing offshore wind.
  • Commercial and recreational fishing entrepreneurs will help manage the fund. So will offshore wind companies, though a list of industry participants has not been announced.

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Hotspots

Judge, Siding With Trump, Saves Solar From NEPA

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

The United States.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

1. Jackson County, Kansas – A judge has rejected a Hail Mary lawsuit to kill a single solar farm over it benefiting from the Inflation Reduction Act, siding with arguments from a somewhat unexpected source — the Trump administration’s Justice Department — which argued that projects qualifying for tax credits do not require federal environmental reviews.

  • We previously reported that this lawsuit filed by frustrated Kansans targeted implementation of the IRA when it first was filed in February. That was true then, but afterwards an amended complaint was filed that focused entirely on the solar farm at the heart of the case: NextEra’s Jeffrey Solar. The case focuses now on whether Jeffrey benefiting from IRA credits means it should’ve gotten reviewed under the National Environmental Policy Act.
  • Perhaps surprisingly to some, the Trump Justice Department argued against these NEPA reviews – a posture that jibes with the administration’s approach to streamlining the overall environmental analysis process but works in favor of companies using IRA credits.
  • In a ruling that came down on Tuesday, District Judge Holly Teeter ruled the landowners lacked standing to sue because “there is a mismatch between their environmental concerns tied to construction of the Jeffrey Solar Project and the tax credits and regulations,” and they did not “plausibly allege the substantial federal control and responsibility necessary to trigger NEPA review.”
  • “Plaintiffs’ claims, arguments, and requested relief have been difficult to analyze,” Teeter wrote in her opinion. “They are trying to use the procedural requirements of NEPA as a roadblock because they do not like what Congress has chosen to incentivize and what regulations Jackson County is considering. But those challenges must be made to the legislative branch, not to the judiciary.”

2. Portage County, Wisconsin – The largest solar project in the Badger State is now one step closer to construction after settling with environmentalists concerned about impacts to the Greater Prairie Chicken, an imperiled bird species beloved in wildlife conservation circles.

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Spotlight

Renewables Swept Up in Data Center Backlash

Just look at Virginia.

A data center.
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Solar and wind projects are getting swept up in the blowback to data center construction, presenting a risk to renewable energy companies who are hoping to ride the rise of AI in an otherwise difficult moment for the industry.

The American data center boom is going to demand an enormous amount of electricity and renewables developers believe much of it will come from solar and wind. But while these types of energy generation may be more easily constructed than, say, a fossil power plant, it doesn’t necessarily mean a connection to a data center will make a renewable project more popular. Not to mention data centers in rural areas face complaints that overlap with prominent arguments against solar and wind – like noise and impacts to water and farmland – which is leading to unfavorable outcomes for renewable energy developers more broadly when a community turns against a data center.

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Q&A

How the Wind Industry Can Fight Back

A conversation with Chris Moyer of Echo Communications

The Q&A subject.
Heatmap Illustration

Today’s conversation is with Chris Moyer of Echo Communications, a D.C.-based communications firm that focuses on defending zero- and low-carbon energy and federal investments in climate action. Moyer, a veteran communications adviser who previously worked on Capitol Hill, has some hot takes as of late about how he believes industry and political leaders have in his view failed to properly rebut attacks on solar and wind energy, in addition to the Inflation Reduction Act. On Tuesday he sent an email blast out to his listserv – which I am on – that boldly declared: “The Wind Industry’s Strategy is Failing.”

Of course after getting that email, it shouldn’t surprise readers of The Fight to hear I had to understand what he meant by that, and share it with all of you. So here goes. The following conversation has been abridged and lightly edited for clarity.

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