Industry groups said the directive could create new delays and bottlenecks for renewable energy projects across the country.
The Trump administration said on Thursday that it would apply new layers of political review to wind and solar projects, potentially creating hurdles for renewable energy developments across the country.
The Interior Department said in a memo that a wide range of agency actions related to approving new wind and solar power plants would now have to be reviewed by the office of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, instead of by lower-level agency staff.
That includes more than 68 types of agency actions, including federal permits, environmental reviews, lease sales, site plans, wildlife impact assessments and numerous smaller decisions and consultations.
In a statement, the agency said that the move was aimed at “ending preferential treatment for unreliable, subsidy-dependent wind and solar energy.”
The broad nature of the memo could create bottlenecks and delays for a significant number of renewable energy projects, experts said.
While only a relatively small fraction of wind and solar projects is built on federal lands and waters managed by the Interior Department, many projects on private lands often consult with the agency to determine whether they need federal permits to comply with wildlife protections or other laws.