Senate's wind protections won't deter Trump, experts say — SkimNews
Get the Energy newsletter
Daily energy & climate — solar, EVs, oil, the policy fights and tech bets shaping the transition. Free.
- Trump's Interior Department has frozen permits for dozens of wind and solar projects since his second term began, often citing vague 'national security' reasons or no explanation at all, prompting many developers to take administration buyouts instead of fighting.
- The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act includes 'project certainty' provisions barring permit revocation and offering developers cash payouts of 25-50% of project costs from the Judgment Fund, which typically disburses around $2 billion annually.
- The Trump administration moved this week to review three Atlantic Coast wind permits, including the operating 700-megawatt Revolution Wind project already delivering power to Rhode Island, threatening the bipartisan compromise even as senators delayed a vote until after midterms.
- The bill's anti-discrimination clause uses a five-year average permit-approval baseline, which former DOJ attorney Matthew Littleton says would prevent wind developers from proving discrimination by the time Trump leaves office — while also locking in oil and gas approvals.
- Offshore wind developers Ørsted and Equinor spent billions on Atlantic projects under Biden but now view the U.S. as 'uninvestable' after pandemic supply chain costs ballooned and Trump moved against their permits, the American Clean Power Association said.
- Trump's existing workaround: the president has negotiated deals to buy back offshore wind leases from developers in exchange for those developers committing to build fossil fuel projects elsewhere — arrangements now being challenged in court.
- Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, a bill author who previously said he would not endorse a compromise unless the administration stopped blocking wind farms, this week called the move against Revolution Wind 'another reason to pass the bill.'
Why it matters: The renewable industry's best legislative shield faces a simultaneous stress test: the same week senators announced the permitting deal, the administration moved to revoke permits on three Atlantic wind farms, including an operating one. If cash payouts and anti-discrimination language fail to deter Trump, Northeastern states' offshore wind capacity — needed to meet climate goals — becomes hostage to which projects survive litigation and lease buybacks.
Ask SkimNews
