Executive Order on wind towers applies to federal land
Visit the current page for Power Co. of Wyoming on X and you wouldn’t have any idea that the Trump Administration has just put a pause on wind power sited on federal lands.
Updates from the developer in charge of the noteworthy Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project are non-existent, save for news about habitat improvements for the sage-grouse as part of the project.
If the sage-grouse is safer from habitat destruction because of ongoing efforts by the developer, then it may also be true that the developer and others like it may find refuge between the lines of the recent executive order. Because while the subject line of the order does sound strong, some careful reading provides additional context.
The order appears on the White House web page and is dated January 20.
“Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects” as a subject is serious language indeed. However, the order itself is temporary and acknowledges increasing demands on energy for the nation.
The order can be read in its entirety here https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/temporary-withdrawal-of-all-areas-on-the-outer-continental-shelf-from-offshore-wind-leasing-and-review-of-the-federal-governments-leasing-and-permitting-practices-for-wind-projects/
The impact of the order is minimized by one simple fact: Very little of the nation’s wind power is produced on public land.
According to the the Bureau of Land Management, a mere five percent of “utility scale” wind energy capacity is generated on public lands. This is in spite of the fact that the agency web site documents the following: Eleven western states and 20 million acres offer wind energy potential; increases in wind energy in the U.S. and abroad have occurred over the years; wind energy projects have been approved on public lands since 1982.
Of course, if you are a developer planning on wind energy on federal land and are only getting started, the order is not good news. But the order does not appear to effect existing leases with the pause.
This is the reading from the governor’s office of Wyoming anyway. Michael Pearlman, communications director for the Office of the Governor, said in a statement:
“At this time, Wyoming does not have any wind projects located on federal lands (which is what the President’s EO addresses) currently going through the state permitting process.”
The consequences of the recent executive order may not yet be completely clear to industry experts but that doesn’t mean individual companies haven’t been planning for uncertainty or finding themselves unable to provide for their customer base.
Basin Electric Power Cooperative, which serves multiple states and is headquartered in Bismarck, North Dakota, is essentially ready for anything, says Andy Buntrock, communications director for the company. That’s because the cooperative operates like a farm or ranch with multiple income streams and resilient long range planning.
“We don’t plan in quarters: We plan in quarter centuries,” Buntrock says.
Buntrock added that the co-op is currently celebrating at least two major natural gas projects that are in the works to help power the region, part of strategic planning that fits the region’s needs. “We need reliable power that comes on for people and for animals no matter the conditions because of the harsh climate we live in,” Buntrock says.
The company’s territory covers nine states and nearly 500,000 square miles..
Buntrock says it is “too soon to tell” how the recent order “shakes out.” The company will monitor the situation in the meantime.
A look at government web sites across the region from Wyoming to the Dakotas and down to Nebraska does not indicate a great deal of concern for the order. Press releases focus on other events in the news and not on the order pausing wind power.
The renewable energy industry sees things differently.
A statement from The American Clean Power Association is highly critical of Trump’s order. The lengthy statement was released the day the order was announced, and can be summarized as in opposition to the order, characterizing the order as bad for the country, bad for energy and for jobs, and only, ultimately, good for bureaucracy.
