{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.bennet.senate.gov/2026/08/27/bennet-hickenlooper-lujan-demand-trump-administration-comply-with-injunction-to-ensure-prompt-approvals-of-wind-and-solar-energy-projects/", "Bennet, Hickenlooper, Luj\u00e1n Demand Trump Administration Comply with Injunction to Ensure Prompt Approvals of Wind and Solar Energy Projects", "2026-08-27", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "Senate", "CO", "Michael F. Bennet", "B001267", "www.bennet.senate.gov", "bennet", "https://www.bennet.senate.gov/news/page/", "scraper", "Denver \u2014 Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, a member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee\u2019s Rural Development and Energy Subcommittee, led Senators John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) and Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D-N.M.) in a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to demand that the Department of Interior (DOI) comply with a preliminary injunction to ensure covered wind and solar permitting reviews are conducted promptly without illegal bureaucratic roadblocks.\n\nIn July 2025, the DOI released an order requiring Secretary Burgum\u2019s personal approval for routine wind and solar energy project permitting decisions, which led to massive delays in power projects across the West. In November 2025, Bennet, Hickenlooper, and Luj\u00e1n sent a letter demanding answers to the DOI\u2019s order and highlighting its harmful effects to energy prices and reliability, but never received a response.\n\nIn April 2026, the U.S. District Court issued a preliminary injunction to prohibit the DOI and its officials from applying the July 2025 order and other internal DOI orders that make wind and solar permitting processes needlessly delayed and difficult while the court case proceeds. Since then, numerous wind and solar developers report that DOI personnel have illegally continued to force project applicants to repeatedly document and prove their eligibility for these court protections.\n\n\u201c[\u2026] Applicants also report that DOI staff have received little or no internal guidance regarding implementation of the Court\u2019s injunction. These reports are not isolated or short-lived: developers continue to describe these delays more than three months after the injunction took effect, indicating an ongoing pattern of noncompliance rather than a transitional implementation issue. DOI\u2019s actions are creating severe regulatory uncertainty, threatening to permanently sideline projects at a time when Western families, farmers, and businesses are facing rising energy demand and higher costs,\u201d wrote the senators.\n\n\u201cWestern states depend on reliable and affordable energy to keep our grid secure and our economies competitive. Wind and solar are the least expensive and fastest-to-deploy sources of new electricity generation available. Dragging out permitting timelines in direct violation of a federal court order is not only illegal, but it also needlessly stalls private investment and drives up household energy costs. Furthermore, your recent testimony before the House Natural Resources Committee, where you reportedly rejected the premise of the ruling and called it \u201cabsurd\u201d for a judge to dictate internal processes, raises concerns. While DOI has the right to appeal, it is legally obligated to comply with the injunction. Moreover, impeding the deployment of the lowest-cost energy sources directly undermines the administration\u2019s stated goals of unleashing American energy and ensuring affordability,\u201d continued the senators.\n\nBennet has continuously fought to protect funding for Colorado\u2019s energy projects and condemn partisan project reversals under the Trump administration. In July 2026, Bennet joined Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and the entire Senate Democratic caucus in demanding that Director Vought immediately rescind the Office of Management and Budget\u2019s proposed power grab over federal grants and awards. In May 2026, Bennet joined Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Schumer, and 18 of their Senate colleagues to introduce legislation to protect public scientific research and reports from the influence of political and special interests.\n\nIn October 2025, Bennet issued a statement following the Trump administration\u2019s targeted cancellation of billions of dollars in funding for energy projects across the country. That same week, Bennet led the Democratic Colorado Delegation in demanding answers from Secretary Wright on the Department of Energy\u2019s abrupt cancellation of $7.56 billion in energy project funding, including over $600 million in funding for 38 Colorado-affiliated projects. Additionally, Bennet joined Murray, Heinrich, and 34 Senate colleagues in sending a letter demanding that Secretary Wright and Director Vought restore funding for all 223 energy projects in Democrat-led states that were unlawfully canceled. In November 2025, Bennet also demanded answers from Secretary Burgum on DOI\u2019s recent order requiring Secretary Burgum\u2019s personal approval for routine wind and solar energy project permitting decisions.\n\nThe text of the letter is available HERE and below.\n\nDear Secretary Burgum:\n\nWe write to express serious concerns regarding reports of the Department of Interior\u2019s (DOI) failure to fully comply with the U.S. District Court\u2019s April 21, 2026 preliminary injunction in Renew Northeast v. U.S. Department of the Interior, No. 1:25-cv-13961 (D. Mass.). In November 2025, we sent you a letter with questions regarding one of the DOI memos addressed in the case, but never received a response. While this injunction took immediate effect and remains in force, reports from industry participants raise serious questions regarding whether DOI has fully complied with the Court\u2019s injunction.\n\nAs you know, the Court\u2019s injunction explicitly prohibits DOI and its officials from applying the DOI Review Procedures Memorandum, the Wind and Solar Fish and Wildlife Service database Ban, Section 4 of the DOI Land Order, Section 4(c) of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Memorandum, and M-Opinion 37086. The Court clearly intended for the covered wind and solar permitting reviews to proceed to timely decisions without these needless bureaucratic roadblocks. Yet, wind and solar developers continue to report that DOI personnel are forcing covered project applicants to repeatedly document and prove their eligibility for these protections, despite the fact that plaintiffs previously provided DOI with a list of covered members. Applicants also report that DOI staff have received little or no internal guidance regarding implementation of the Court\u2019s injunction. These reports are not isolated or short-lived: developers continue to describe these delays more than three months after the injunction took effect, indicating an ongoing pattern of noncompliance rather than a transitional implementation issue. DOI\u2019s actions are creating severe regulatory uncertainty, threatening to permanently sideline projects at a time when Western families, farmers, and businesses are facing rising energy demand and higher costs.\n\nWestern states depend on reliable and affordable energy to keep our grid secure and our economies competitive. Wind and solar are the least expensive and fastest-to-deploy sources of new electricity generation available. Dragging out permitting timelines in direct violation of a federal court order is not only illegal, but it also needlessly stalls private investment and drives up household energy costs. Furthermore, your recent testimony before the House Natural Resources Committee, where you reportedly rejected the premise of the ruling and called it \u201cabsurd\u201d for a judge to dictate internal processes, raises concerns. While DOI has the right to appeal, it is legally obligated to comply with the injunction. Moreover, impeding the deployment of the lowest-cost energy sources directly undermines the administration\u2019s stated goals of unleashing American energy and ensuring affordability.\n\nTo ensure compliance with the law and restore certainty to energy developers and Western stakeholders, we request answers to the following questions:\n\nInternal Guidance \u2013 What types of written internal guidance or implementation instructions regarding compliance with the Court\u2019s injunction has DOI provided to staff? Please provide copies of any implementation memoranda, directives, guidance documents, training materials, emails, or other instructions on this topic. If no such materials exist, explain what alternative measures DOI has taken to ensure consistent compliance throughout DOI;\n\nApplicant Identification \u2013 What instructions has DOI provided staff for identifying plaintiffs and their members? Please provide communications to DOI staff and explain the steps that DOI is taking to minimize duplicative verification procedures.\n\nPermitting Progress \u2013 What steps has DOI taken since the Court injunction to ensure that covered permitting reviews are proceeding to timely agency action? Please identify, by bureau or office where practicable, the number of covered permitting reviews that have advanced since entry of the Court\u2019s injunction, including consultations completed, biological opinions issued, permits or other authorizations issued or denied.\n\nStalled Reviews \u2013 Which covered permitting reviews remain paused or materially delayed following entry of the Court\u2019s injunction? Please provide a list and explain the specific reason for any such delay, including whether it is related to eligibility verification, lack of implementation guidance, application of one of the court-blocked policies, or some other basis. The lists from questions 3 and 4 should add up to the total number of permitting reviews under consideration by DOI between April 21 and now.\n\nWe respectfully request a written response to these questions no later than September 1, 2026. We urge you to follow the law and comply with federal court orders to ensure that federal permitting supports, rather than undermines, an affordable and secure energy future.\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-27T16:10:01Z", "2026-08-27T16:10:50Z"]], "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://www.bennet.senate.gov/2026/08/27/bennet-hickenlooper-lujan-demand-trump-administration-comply-with-injunction-to-ensure-prompt-approvals-of-wind-and-solar-energy-projects/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2727959547191858, "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"}