Burgum Accused of Kneecapping Wind and Solar for Oil and Gas

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum faced pointed accusations from House Democrats on April 20 that his department was dismantling the country’s offshore wind and solar sectors while steering federal policy toward oil and gas producers.

The hearing before the House Appropriations Interior-Environment Subcommittee centered on Trump’s $16 billion budget request for the Interior Department for the next fiscal year, a figure that would keep the department’s funding roughly even with current levels. But the budget numbers quickly gave way to a sharper fight over which energy sources get federal backing and which ones don’t.

Rep. Chellie Pingree, Democrat of Maine, didn’t hold back. “Shortly after taking office, the White House moved quickly to halt offshore wind development and took steps to rein in solar and wind projects,” Pingree told the subcommittee. “Why are we kneecapping industries that create jobs, expand our energy supply and help address the climate crisis? Because this administration’s energy policy is based on political grievance, ideological hostility and, of course, propping up big oil and gas.”

Burgum pushed back. He said the Biden administration’s approach amounted to an “over-rotation” toward renewables that punished fossil fuel producers through what he called punitive regulations. “The last administration said ‘all of the above’ and then there were a set of rules that were completely punitive against the stuff that we needed to actually, you know, have baseload power in this country,” Burgum said. “It was just too early. It was too premature to say we’re going to shut all that down and we’re going to transition.”

California Democrat Josh Harder raised a narrower but concrete objection. He said the Interior Department was applying different approval standards depending on what kind of energy project was seeking a permit, with secretary-level sign-off required for some projects but not others. “There is, again, one standard for one type of energy and another standard for another type,” Harder said. “I hear the complaints about previous administrations putting their thumb on the scale. What I see now is secretary-level approval required for one type of project, but not for another. And again, I don’t think that’s sustainable or good policy.”

That detail matters for New Jersey. The state has watched its offshore wind pipeline stall badly since the Trump administration moved to freeze federal permits early this year. Developers and state officials have struggled to get clarity on which projects, if any, can move forward under current Interior Department rules.

Harder also called for overhauled permitting regulations to speed construction of renewable infrastructure, though he acknowledged that some of that responsibility sits with Congress, not just the executive branch.

Burgum said the administration supports hydropower and nuclear energy, but argued that solar and wind are “weather-dependent, intermittent” sources that can drive up costs for ratepayers. He framed the current approach not as anti-renewable bias but as a correction to what he sees as Biden-era overreach.

The NJ Monitor reported that the hearing also touched on Trump’s proposed cuts to national parks funding and reductions at the Bureau of Indian Education, though those issues got less airtime than the energy dispute. For anyone watching New Jersey’s offshore wind situation, the subcommittee exchange made one thing plain: the federal government’s posture toward renewable energy won’t shift without either a change in the White House or sustained pressure from Congress, and neither appears close at hand.

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External links:

• House Appropriations Committee
• U.S. Department of the Interior
• New Jersey Board of Public Utilities offshore wind program
• Bureau of Ocean Energy Management wind energy leasing