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President Donald Trump has put energy front and center during his second term. On his first day in office alone, he froze spending under the Inflation Reduction Act, took a wrecking ball to offshore wind, and declared an “energy emergency,” citing affordability and grid reliability issues.
Critics have dismissed the emergency as a fabrication. Attorneys general from 15 states are challenging it in court. And Trump, whose policies are slowing the construction of cheap, clean energy, is not exactly acting like there’s an emergency at hand.
Take the Revolution Wind project as the latest example. Last Friday, the Trump administration ordered developer Ørsted to stop all construction on the huge, nearly complete project, citing unspecified “national security” reasons. It’s the second time the government has issued such an order to an offshore wind project that would’ve brought clean power to the Northeast.
The stoppage poses a real threat to the grid in New England, which is home to some of the highest power prices in the nation.
Revolution Wind was supposed to start delivering power next year — very soon in grid-planning terms. ISO-New England, the region’s grid operator, said Monday that it is banking on the wind farm to help meet demand and maintain power reserves. Further delays will continue the region’s reliance on natural gas, which ISO-New England has warned is in short supply and which is subject to price volatility.
Blocking major energy projects from coming online is not exactly consistent with declaring an energy emergency.
And yet, the Revolution Wind pause is just one example of how the administration is stymieing clean energy deployment. In recent months, it has rolled back federal subsidies and grants and implemented new federal leasing rules under which renewables are doomed to fail. Because of these policies, the country is expected to build less than half as much clean energy over the next decade — an outcome experts widely agree will raise power prices.
In fact, the only place the administration has acted as if its emergency is real is when it comes to preserving fossil-fuel power plants on the brink of closure.
The U.S. Department of Energy recently extended its emergency order barring a Michigan coal plant from retiring — a decision that cost the plant’s owner $29 million in its first five weeks. And on Thursday, the DOE extended another order keeping a Pennsylvania gas- and oil-fired peaker plant online. Regional grid operators had previously deemed both plants safe to close.
The moves reveal the incoherence at the heart of Trump’s energy policy, which exploits a questionable emergency to prop up expensive and unnecessary fossil-fueled power plants on the one hand — and blocks the fastest-growing and lowest-cost form of energy on the other.
Clean energy is getting its own day of action
If you’ve read even one edition of this newsletter since Trump took office, you’ll know that clean energy is facing a crisis in the U.S. Sun Day aims to elevate that message and boost the transition from fossil fuels with a nationwide day of action coming up on Sept. 21, Canary Media’s Alison F. Takemura reports.
The brainchild of climate journalist and activist Bill McKibben, Sun Day looks a lot like Earth Day. Advocacy groups and individuals will hold more than 150 events across the country, offering tours of homes with rooftop solar arrays, EV test drives, and other just-plain-fun activities like performances and face painting. You can find an event near you via the Sun Day website, or tap into Sun Day’s toolkit to host an event of your own.
Two nuclear plants inch closer to “renaissance”
Two retired nuclear plants each took a step toward restarting this week. On Monday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved a waiver that will let the Duane Arnold plant in Iowa move toward restarting, which plant owner NextEra Energy hopes to do by 2029. And in Michigan, the Palisades plant has returned to operational status after being decommissioned for three years. The designation just means it can start receiving fuel again — it’s not yet generating electricity.
The Trump administration is pushing for a “nuclear renaissance,” both through the development of new advanced nuclear reactors and the reopening of large, retired facilities. The administration and nuclear advocates say the power source can help meet growing electricity demand, though the U.S.’s most recent attempt to build a new nuclear plant took years and billions of dollars more than expected.
‘It’s madness’: New England fishermen who rely on salaries from their work with Revolution Wind call on Trump to reverse the Interior Department order stopping work on the offshore wind project — and point out that most of them voted for the president. (Canary Media)
From misinformation to memorandum: The Trump administration has turned “capacity density” — a fossil-fuel industry talking point that argues wind and solar take up too much land for the power they produce — into a criterion for federal leasing that renewables are doomed to fail. (Canary Media)
Keeping solar affordable: With power prices on the rise, developers of bill-cutting solar projects for low-income households are finding ways to move projects forward despite federal funding rollbacks. (Canary Media)
Fossil-fuel injustices: A peer-reviewed study finds premature deaths and illnesses stemming from oil- and gas-related air pollution disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous, Asian, and Latino communities. (Los Angeles Times)
The state of permitting: State lawmakers across the U.S. have introduced a total of 148 bills aimed at restricting clean energy development this year via increased local approvals, expanded setback requirements, and other measures, though only a handful of those proposals have passed. (Latitude Media, Clean Tomorrow)
Visualizing emissions: A research group’s new Methane Risk Map visualizes invisible methane emissions and the harmful pollutants released alongside them, in hopes of warning neighbors about their health effects. (Inside Climate News)
A red flag for nuclear: Former Nuclear Regulatory Commission leaders say the Trump administration’s attempts to exercise control over the independent agency have led senior leadership to depart, “creating a huge brain drain” that raises the risk of accidents. (Financial Times)
Good news for solar: Despite federal setbacks, the U.S. is on track to build a record amount of new solar this year, with the renewable resource estimated to make up more than half of generating capacity added in 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. (Canary Media)
Gas plans fizzle: In the two years since Texas lawmakers created a $7.2 billion state fund to jump-start the construction of more gas-fired power plants, officials have approved only two proposals totaling just $321 million, and developers have pulled other applications over supply chain issues and profitability concerns. (Texas Tribune)
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