ICYMI: Senate Democrats Demand Appropriators Rein in Trump’s Politically Motivated War on Wind and Solar

In a new letter highlighted by E&E News, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto led a group of Senate Democrats on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee urging appropriators to include language in fiscal 2027 spending bills barring the Trump administration’s illegal, politically motivated blockade of wind and solar projects. The senators are targeting two policies in the spending bills. The first is Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s requirement that he personally approve routine solar and wind permitting decisions. The second is a directive requiring the Army Corps of Engineers to weigh a project’s “energy generation per acre,” a transparent attempt to disadvantage wind and solar in favor of fossil fuels. 

A federal court already ruled against the Burgum directive, but he has flouted the order and continues to illegally block projects. Senate Democrats have said they will not support a permitting deal when this administration puts its thumb on the scale against wind, solar, and battery projects—keeping urgently needed energy offline and driving up electricity bills for American families.

ICYMI: E&E News: Senate Dems push spending riders on wind, solar permits

June 9, 2026
By: Josh Siegel

Key Points:

• Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is leading a group of Energy and Natural Resources Committee Democrats urging appropriators to impose guardrails on the Trump administration’s enhanced scrutiny of solar and wind projects.
  
• Cortez Masto sent a letter Monday, shared with POLITICO, to the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Interior-Environment and Energy-Water Appropriations subcommittees urging language in fiscal 2027 bills that “directs the agencies under your jurisdiction to permit energy projects fairly and without arbitrary technology-specific barriers.”
  
• The Democrats are focusing on a policy requiring Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s personal approval for routine solar and wind permitting activities. A federal court rules against the directive but the administration has vowed to fight.
• The Energy and Natural Resources lawmakers also want appropriators to act against an Interior policy to consider the “capacity density” of projects. There’s a similar directive at the Army Corps of Engineers. Capacity density weighs a project’s footprint relative to how much energy it can product.
• “In order to ensure American businesses have access to abundant energy resources and protect communities from shouldering higher costs from an energy-constrained grid, we must tap into developing energy resources without discrimination,” the Democrats wrote in the letter.

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