The Trump administration’s attacks on renewable energy are making it more difficult for lawmakers to reach a bipartisan energy deal.
Key Democrats say they are not willing to play ball to achieve a deal on so-called permitting reform unless the administration stops going after green energy projects — especially those that have already been approved.
“The elephant in the room now is the stop-work orders that the administration has put out because if you can ignore the law and you can stop someone’s job on a fully permitted project, then does permitting law really matter?” Sen. Martin Heinrich (N.M.), the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, asked The Hill in a recent interview.
The Trump administration has moved to block several offshore wind projects that were approved and got permits to build during the Biden administration.
The Trump administration has said in a series of court filings that it hopes to block at least three of those projects, including one in New England that was already about 80 percent constructed.
The White House has carried out multiple attacks on green energy. It has previously slashed tax subsidies for renewables, sought to slow down federal approval of wind and solar projects and said it would try to block projects that take up a lot of room, which would disproportionately impact the sector.
At the same time, the administration has expressed support for cutting red tape, which lawmakers say they hope to do with a bipartisan deal.
Members of the Problem Solvers Caucus, a group of moderate members of both parties, on Thursday proposed a new framework for a potential bipartisan deal.
Their framework includes provisions supported by Republicans to limit lawsuits over energy projects while also giving Democrats wins they’re seeking to build out more power lines — which they hope could get renewable energy onto the grid more quickly.
At the same time, the framework’s backers said the Trump administration will have to stop targeting renewables in order for a deal to actually be achieved.
“If we keep on going in this process and we get near the finish line, and the argument becomes, ‘Hey, you guys are making this deal, and they’re not going to approve any of the green projects anyway,’ then it’s going to be very hard for us to keep the deal going forward,” said Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.).
“We need to see good faith, not only from our colleagues, which we’ve been seeing in our Problem Solvers Group, we need to see good faith in the White House also,” Suozzi added.
Spokespeople for the White House, as well as the Interior Department, which has made several of the anti-renewable moves, did not respond to The Hill’s requests for comment.
Even prior to the moves to block offshore wind, Democrats were raising concerns about the Trump administration’s assault on renewables.
“We are stuck in a pickle of not being able to trust the Trump administration to execute fairly, faithfully in the words of the Constitution, whatever law we would pass,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) told The Hill in July.
Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said lawmakers will have to “get the assurances that we’re going to need from the Trump administration that whatever we agree to is actually going to be implemented by them and they’re not just going to cherry pick” to only benefit “fossil fuel and Republicans” rather than “clean energy or Democrats.”
“They’ve got to come to us and make a case that is convincing,” he said.
During an Environmental Protection Agency-led roundtable on Monday, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) told players in the tech sector that “the way to get certainty on all accounts is to have regulatory reform through Congress.”
Asked by The Hill this week whether the Trump administration’s actions are making it harder to reach a deal, Capito said, “Time will tell.”
Many in the business community, especially the energy industry, have been pushing Congress to reach an accord.
“Our message to lawmakers right now is that this stands to benefit every sector of the American economy,” said Dustin Meyer, senior vice president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs at the American Petroleum Institute, a major oil and gas lobbying group.
On oil and gas specifically, he said that a faster process “will help bring more supply into the marketplace… and that plays a critical role in putting downward pressure on prices.”
Lawmakers have sought to put together an agreement to speed up approvals for energy and other infrastructure projects for a long time, with Republicans hoping to bolster fossil fuels while many Democrats have sought to bolster renewable energy.
Nevertheless, it’s an issue that has divided Democrats, as progressives have argued that faster projects could mean less environmental scrutiny and more pollution.
Still, other Democrats are seeking a bipartisan agreement, even with the Trump administration’s anti-renewable policies.
Heinrich told The Hill he hopes to ultimately get an arrangement across the finish line.
“If we can get some clarity and confidence that the administration is going to respect the law with respect to permitting, then I do think we can negotiate a path forward,” he said.
