{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://susielee.house.gov/media/press-releases/icymi-congresswoman-lee-grills-trump-interior-secretary-attempt-kill-solar", "ICYMI: Congresswoman Lee Grills Trump Interior Secretary on Attempt to Kill Solar in Nevada", "2026-05-18", "2026", "2026-05", "Democrat", "House", "NV", "Susie Lee", "L000590", "susielee.house.gov", "susielee", "https://susielee.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "During Wednesday\u2019s hearing, Representative Susie Lee of Nevada told Burgum that his policies have \u201ccreated a total permitting mess\u201d in her sunny home state, and asked him what the immediate impact of the court\u2019s order was within his agency.\n\nWhen Burgum responded by denigrating the judge\u2019s decision, Lee asked if he was planning to appeal the order.\n\n\u201cYeah, absolutely,\u201d he said, asserting that \u201cthe idea that a single judge could decide\u201d how the agency conducts permitting \u201cis absurd.\u201d\n\nAt the end of her questioning, Lee reaffirmed that the July 15 memo was the single thing stalling a permitting reform deal in Congress.\n\n\u201cIf you would just rescind that memo, we could get permitting reform passed this Congress, and we can start to talk about permitting all forms of energy.\u201d\n\nThe administration has also sought to stop offshore wind projects under construction.\n\nSome solar projects in recent months have begun to move through Interior's pipeline \u2014 in some cases after prodding from Republican supporters of renewable energy.\n\nFacing questioning from Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.), Burgum declined to say whether he personally took a call from the president last year urging him to allow solar projects to move forward in Nevada, as Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) said in a recent Podcast.\n\n\u201cWe're following the law required for permitting,\u201d Burgum said.\n\nAnother point of contention at the hearing was the Interior Department\u2019s policy adding new checks for wind- and solar-permitting approval, including a review by Burgum\u2019s own office.\n\nA federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on the policy last month after wind and solar developers said in a lawsuit that the policy was intended to shut down their projects.\n\nThe idea that a single judge could dictate internal Interior Department permitting processes \u201cis absurd,\u201d Burgum said.\n\nRep. Susie Lee (D., Nev.) said the Interior Department\u2019s actions have \u201ccreated a total permitting mess\u201d in her state.\n\nLee said that while Nevada uses more solar than any other state in the country, new solar projects are stalling under the Trump administration.\n\nBurgum said that the intermittent nature of sunshine makes relying on it for energy too uncertain. He also said he worries that solar equipment coming from China could put the U.S. grid at risk.\n\n\u201cWhen the sun goes down, they produce zero electricity,\u201d he said.\n\nAdvancements have been made in battery-storage capacity for solar power, but Republicans and Democrats tussled over the capabilities of such storage at the hearing, with Republicans arguing that battery-storage potential isn\u2019t substantial enough.\n\nA post on the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s website says that battery storage \u201chelps solar contribute to the electricity supply even when the sun isn\u2019t shining.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe idea that a single judge could decide what the process that we\u2019re supposed to go through internally to make sure that we\u2019re complying with the law through a complex permitting process is absurd,\u201d Burgum said in response to questions from Rep. Susie Lee (D-N.V.).\n\nLee said as much on Wednesday, stating that DOI\u2019s enforcement of that July memo is standing in the way of broader permitting reform in Congress.\n\n\u201cIf you would just rescind that memo, we could get permitting reform passed this Congress, and we can start to talk about permitting all forms of energy,\u201d Lee said to Burgum in the hearing.\n\nLee added that DOI\u2019s actions \u2014 including a July 15 memo mandating a new three-tiered political review for all wind and solar permits, ending with Burgum\u2019s office \u2014 have stalled 93% of all new energy capacity in Nevada.\n\nBurgum didn\u2019t confirm or deny a conversation with Trump in response to questions from Lee.\n\nIn April, a federal judge in Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction in favor of a group of clean energy advocacy and trade groups that claimed the administration had unlawfully implemented policies preventing the development of renewable energy resources.\n\nBurgum was pressed on whether the agency would abide by the court\u2019s injunction during Wednesday\u2019s hearing, and did not directly answer whether he would.\n\n\u201cI mean, we have three separate equal branches of government that each have their own responsibilities, and ours is to execute on the permitting responsibilities that we have,\u201d Burgum said.\n\nRep. Susie Lee (D-NV) pushed back against the directive, telling Burgum that there have been \u201czero permits\u201d issued for wind and solar power projects in her state of Nevada over the last year, despite support from state leadership.\n\nShe asked the secretary to abide by the injunction and begin approving permits for new renewable energy projects to support the U.S.\u2019s efforts to get ahead in the artificial intelligence arms race.", 1, "2026-06-24T06:25:30Z", "2026-06-24T06:26:49Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://susielee.house.gov/media/press-releases/icymi-congresswoman-lee-grills-trump-interior-secretary-attempt-kill-solar"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8797990158200264, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}