Senate Democrats say they will walk away from talks about legislation to speed energy and infrastructure construction unless the Trump administration reverses its latest attack on wind power.
Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) say they will abandon the long-held permitting reform talks after the Trump administration on Monday said it would suspend leases for five major offshore wind farms that were already approved and under construction.
"The illegal attacks on fully permitted renewable energy projects must be reversed if there is to be any chance that permitting talks resume. There is no path to permitting reform if this administration refuses to follow the law," Heinrich and Whitehouse, the top Democrats on the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources and Environment and Public Works committees respectively, said in a joint statement.
The Democrats had been negotiating with their Republican counterparts, Sens. Mike Lee (Utah) and Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), for months on an agreement that was expected to bolster both renewable energy and fossil fuels.
In the Senate, 60 votes are needed to overcome the filibuster, so at least seven Democrats would have to be on board with any legislation that gets approved.
Earlier this year, Heinrich and Whitehouse indicated that the Trump administration would need to stop going after renewables in order for a deal to be reached.
But talks had been ongoing - until now.
"We want to thank Chairs Capito and Lee for their good-faith efforts to negotiate a permitting reform bill that would have lowered electricity prices for all Americans. There was a deal to be had that would have taken politics out of permitting, made the process faster and more efficient, and streamlined grid infrastructure improvements nationwide," Whitehouse and Heinrich said.
"But any deal would have to be administered by the Trump Administration. Its reckless and vindictive assault on wind energy doesn't just undermine one of our cheapest, cleanest power sources; it wrecks the trust needed with the executive branch for bipartisan permitting reform," they added. "It will own the higher electricity prices, increasingly decrepit infrastructure, and loss of competitiveness that result from its reckless policies."
Interior Department spokesperson Alyse Sharpe declined to comment beyond the administration's press release, which claimed the leases were being suspended for national security reasons.
"Today's action addresses emerging national security risks, including the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies, and the vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our east coast population centers," Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in that release.
The Hill has reached out to Capito's office and Lee's office for comment.
Various industries have expressed support for permitting reform, saying it takes too long to get projects built in the U.S. That includes industries favored by the Trump administration, including the fossil fuel industry. It's not clear whether the administration's permitting-supportive allies will try to push them to ease their anti-wind stance for the sake of getting legislation across the finish line.