Environmental Groups Join Legal Fight Against Renewable Energy Permit Freeze
Environmental organizations are backing a collection of renewable energy sector groups that are fighting the Trump administration’s moves that stop federal permits for wind and solar energy projects.
Lawsuit Against the Department of the Interior
Eight renewable energy organizations, including Renew Northeast, filed a complaint in December against the Department of the Interior. The lawsuit says that six acts taken by the Trump administration are illegal because they penalize wind and solar growth while boosting the fossil fuel business. Today, environmental groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Conservation Law Foundation, the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Environmental League of Massachusetts, the Environmental Protection Information Center, the National Wildlife Federation, the New York League of Conservation Voters, and Earthjustice on behalf of the Sierra Club filed a friend of the court brief in support of the renewable energy industry groups’ request for a preliminary injunction.
The organizations said in their brief,
“These illegal actions hurt fair markets, make it harder for people to pay their bills, and make it harder for the state and local governments to meet their climate and energy goals.”
It will make people more dependent on fossil fuels, which is bad for public health, animals, and the environment.
Key Policies Under Legal Challenge
The environmental organizations’ amicus brief is mostly about the Department of the Interior’s Secretarial Order 3438, the Army Corps of Engineers’ new “capacity density” rules, and the Fish & Wildlife Service’s prohibition on Eagle Take Permits. The organization says that all of these things are illegal and doesn’t have enough evidence to back them up.
“Although wind and solar are variable resources, they are critical to meeting grid reliability needs,”
the brief states.
“Wind and solar energy are especially reliable because they are unlimited and come from many different places. During extreme weather events, when fossil fuel sources, which rely on limited resources and are more likely to have supply chain problems, have more outages.”
Wind and solar power now make up 17% of the energy in the U.S. The prices have gone down a lot in the last few years. The lawsuit is in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
