President Donald Trump is escalating his attacks on wind and solar power from the rhetorical to the tangible, mounting a rapid-fire campaign that exceeds the industries’ worst fears.
In just the past few weeks, the Trump administration instituted permitting reviews that threaten US wind and solar developments. It imposed standards that would essentially prevent new developments on federal land. It rescinded Biden-era decisions earmarking coastal waters for future wind turbines. And on Wednesday it yanked approval for a massive planned wind farm in Idaho.
The pace and range of strikes against renewables — alongside several other actions that serve to prop up fossil fuels and nuclear power — have whipsawed wind and solar developers that had grown accustomed to federal support. The policies have already helped contribute to the cancellation or delay of more than $22 billion clean energy projects since January and the loss of thousands of jobs, a majority in Republican states, according to an analysis from the E2 advocacy group.