Environmental groups are backing a coalition of renewable energy industry groups challenging the Trump administration’s actions preventing federal permits for wind and solar projects.
The lawsuitfiled in December against the Department of the Interior by eight renewable energy groups, including Renew Northeastchallenges six actions by the Trump administration that unlawfully punish wind and solar energy development while elevating the fossil fuel industry. Today, environmental groups – Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Conservation Law Foundation, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Environmental Defense Fund, Environmental League of Massachusetts, Environmental Protection Information Center, National Wildlife Federation, New York League of Conservation Voters, and Earthjustice on behalf of the Sierra Club – filed a friend of the court request in support of the renewable energy industry groups’ request for a preliminary injunction.
“These illegal actions undermine fair markets, taxpayer affordability, and state and local efforts to meet state climate and energy mandates,” the groups said in their letter. It will “increase dependence on fossil fuels – an outcome that poses well-documented risks to human health, wildlife and the environment.”
The environmental groups’ amicus brief focuses on Department of the Interior Secretarial Order 3438, the Army Corps of Engineers’ new “capacity density” restrictions and the Fish & Wildlife Service’s Eagle Take Permit ban. The group claims that they are all illegal and not supported by adequate arguments.
“While wind and solar energy are variable sources, they are critical to meeting electric grid reliability needs,” the letter said. “Especially because wind and solar energy are inexhaustible and geographically diverse, they have provided more reliable electricity to Americans during extreme weather events, when fossil fuels – which rely on limited resources and are vulnerable to supply chain disruptions – experienced higher levels of outages.”
Currently, wind and solar energy are responsible for 17% of electricity generation in the US, with costs falling dramatically in recent years. The lawsuit is pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
News item from NRDC
