The Trump administration’s anti-renewables policies have left gigawatts’ worth of new solar and wind projects strangled in red tape. So as Congress revisits energy-permitting reform, which it’s tried and failed to pass several times over the past few years, solar companies are taking a stand.

A Dec. 4 letter from 143 of those companies to congressional leaders takes aim at one Trump directive in particular: A July order from the Department of the Interior that requires its head, Doug Burgum, to personally approve every decision the agency makes on renewable energy. In the five months since that change, Burgum hasn’t signed off on any new solar projects on federal lands.

The solar companies are calling for a revocation of the order, equating it to ​“a nearly complete moratorium on permitting for any project in which the Department of Interior may play a role, on both federal and private land, no matter how minor.”

“Even if the only thing you care about is the price of an electron, this solar ban is creating an electron shortage across the country, and that’s before the ramp-up of data centers and an increased load,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said at an event this week.

Schatz is among three Democratic senators who say they’ll fight one of Republicans’ first cracks at permitting reform. The SPEED Act, which would overhaul the National Environmental Policy Act, already passed out of a House committee in late November with support from some Democrats. Further action has stalled amid pushback from far-right lawmakers, who are upset that the bill would bar presidents from revoking already-issued energy project permits.

Schatz, Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) have a very different problem with the SPEED Act. Although the bill could hasten energy development by streamlining environmental reviews, the legislators say it should include clearer benefits for renewables and projects that expand the nation’s high-voltage power grid.

“We are committed to streamlining the permitting process — but only if it ensures we can build out transmission and cheap, clean energy,” the senators said in a statement to Heatmap, adding that ​“the SPEED Act does not meet that standard.” Pushback from those three climate-hawk legislators could be enough to turn other Democrats against the bill and block its passage.

Congress now has two options: Come to a compromise, or add to the many ghosts of permitting negotiations past.

More big energy stories

Judge lifts Trump’s offshore wind ban

Offshore wind has finally caught a break. On Monday, a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration’s freeze on wind-energy project permitting is unlawful, siding with 18 state attorneys general who had challenged the move. Those states argued that the restrictions on wind development impeded their ability to lower both energy bills and planet-warming pollution.

President Donald Trump issued the halt on his first day in office, claiming it was only temporary, pending an Interior Department review of permitting processes. But as a former Interior Department official tells Canary Media’s Clare Fieseler, there’s little evidence that the administration ever launched that evaluation.

Don’t expect the winds to change right away following the legal win. The Trump administration probably won’t suddenly start green-lighting wind farms as a result of the ruling, and courts haven’t typically forced agencies to issue permits.

Data center pushback reaches a fever pitch 

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have at least one thing in common: They’re navigating mounting opposition to the build-out of data centers. More than 230 environmental groups this week called for Congress to issue a moratorium on data center construction, saying the facilities are ​“threatening Americans’ economic, environmental, climate, and water security.”

So far, the demand hasn’t gotten much political support. Even more progressive members of Congress, like Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), wouldn’t endorse a full development moratorium when questioned by E&E News.

Conservatives aren’t immune to the issue. President Trump wants the U.S. to dominate artificial-intelligence advancement, and with more AI comes more data centers. Many of them are being built in rural Midwest and Southeast communities that pretty reliably vote for Republicans, who must now walk the line between promoting the administration’s priorities and those of their constituents.

Clean energy news to know this week

Wind’s biggest naysayer: David Stevenson believes in climate change and has solar panels on his home — but he is still at the center of a network of activists and political operatives who’ve elevated the fight against offshore wind to the White House. (Canary Media)

Energy, erased: Developers have canceled nearly 2,000 power projects in the U.S. representing 266 GW of new generation so far this year, most of them solar, storage, and wind installations. (Latitude Media)

Clean heat on campus: Cornell University is drilling for geothermal energy in the hopes of heating its entire campus sans fossil fuels, but researchers must first conquer challenges like upstate New York’s rocky geology. (Canary Media)

Put it in reverse: Uber discontinues monthly bonuses for EV drivers, a move that has some drivers rethinking their switch to electric cars and that will make the company’s green goals even harder to achieve. (Bloomberg)

Power moves: The electricity sector became the world’s largest energy-industry employer in 2024, surpassing fuel supply for the first time, largely thanks to growing power generation, transmission, and storage. (IEA)

Green backtrack: Exxon Mobil announces it will increase oil and gas production with the goal of growing earnings by $25 billion from 2024 to 2030, while reducing its spending on low-carbon initiatives by a third. (Reuters, Financial Times)

Tariffs coming soon: Europe’s new carbon tariff on energy-intensive commodities like steel and aluminum takes effect in the new year, and is already sparking changes throughout international markets. (Canary Media)