Government Overreach Now Wears A MAGA Hat As Assault On Wind Power Accelerates

Isn’t it curious how the so-called Republicans do exactly what they accuse the Democrats of doing once they get into power? A generation ago, they swept into control by accusing the Democrats of being “tax and spend” fanatics who were increasing the national debt with their profligate ways. So they formed what they called the Tea Party, which promised to get spending under control. A lot of Americans liked that idea and so the Tea Party rolled to victory and sure enough, by the time they were done, the national debt had doubled.

For the past decade, the lament from Republicans has been “government overreach,” described as a bunch of faceless bureaucrats in Washington making reams of rules and regulations that hamstrung business and wrecked the economy. They railed about rules that limited greenhouse gas emissions from cars, trucks, and power plants. They foamed at the mouth about rules that tried to prevent pesticides, fertilizers, forever chemicals, hexavalent chromium, and other toxic chemicals from sluicing into America’s waterways.

But now those crazies are in power and, boy howdy, are they ever hell-bent on forcing their own rules down the throats of people they don’t like. And the people they don’t like the most are those who are building wind turbines to provide clean emissions-free electricity to American homes and businesses. Emily Atkin, the spark plug who brings us the latest news about the war on renewables in her HEATED blog, has reposted a piece by Michael Thomas, who writes the Clearview Newsletter.

Thomas makes clear that the oft-repeated mantra by Republicans that government should not be picking winners and losers in the marketplace is no longer operative in this failed administration, which is bound and determined to eliminate wind power at all costs. You might think the Supine Court would be bound by its own decisions over the past 5 years or so that found, again and again, that government regulations that did not have the clear imprimatur of Congressional approval are void. Don’t bet on it. This court has repeatedly shown it does not respect judicial precedent — not even if those precedents are its own.

It is dominated by a bunch of MAGA true believers placed there by fossil fuel interests and they understand clearly they have a duty to protect their benefactors. No doubt the assault on wind power — which has totally bypassed Congress — will be challenged in the courts and no doubt if and when it arrives on the doorstep of the Supreme Court, those solons will rule that the executive branch can suffer no restraints and so these policies are perfectly legal. We have seldom witnessed in the history of the United States a more partisan, activist court.

Shortly before his inauguration earlier this year, the Moron of Mar-A-Loco told the press, “We are going to have a policy where no windmills are being built.” This reality TV bully has been supremely offended by wind turbines ever since Scotland allowed them to be built within sight of a golf course he owns.  Since that announcement, Thomas writes, “It has become clear that the administration is willing to break laws and pursue unprecedented policies to stop wind energy development entirely.”

Setback & Height Restrictions For Wind

This week, Jael Holzman of Heatmap described the latest attack on wind energy. He wrote, “The Transportation Department last Tuesday declared that it would now call for a national 1.2-mile property setback — that is, a mandatory distance requirement — for all wind facilities near railroads and highways.” But wait, there’s more. “DOT said that it would instruct the Federal Aviation Administration to ‘thoroughly evaluate proposed wind turbines to ensure they do not pose a danger to aviation’ — a signal that a once-routine FAA height clearance required for almost every wind turbine could now become a hurdle for the entire sector.”

Thomas wrote that a 1.2-mile setback in a country with as many highways and railroads as the US has would restrict development on a huge swatch of the country’s land. More troubling is that if the administration were to stop issuing FAA height clearance approvals, it would grind development to a halt for every wind energy project in America — on both federal and private land. “By weaponizing this simple administrative procedure, the FAA could—at least temporarily—achieve Trump’s vision of ‘no windmills being built.’”

Delay always works to someone’s advantage. In this case, while the new rules could be challenged in court, the judicial process is not designed to work quickly (unless it is something the alleged president wants, in which case it can move at the speed of light). Congress, in its infinite wisdom, has decreed that clean energy tax credits will expire by the end of 2027. That means that if the FAA delays the permitting process — as it surely will, now that is controlled by MAGA apparatchiks — the mere threat of delay could scare off would-be investors and make it impossible to fund a project.

All across the US, wind developers have planned 790 projects totaling 213 GW of power capacity, according to Cleanview’s project tracker. For now, virtually all of these projects face some kind of risk of cancellation or delay given the administration’s latest extreme policy position. In all, more than $317 billion in clean energy investments are threaten by this latest policy initiative. Below is a chart prepared from data provided by Cleanview showing what wind developments are planned across the US. Notice how many are so-called “red states.” Now imagine how those states will be impacted by the loss of those investments.

“Cancelled projects would also result in less tax revenue and land lease payments to farmers in counties that voted overwhelmingly for Trump. Last year, I found that 88% of wind projects were built in counties that voted for Trump in 2020,” Thomas wrote.

A Senate Revolt Over Wind Power

There are a few Senate Republicans who may have found the intestinal fortitude needed to stand up to this madness. They were promised a “go slow” path to removing clean energy incentives if they voted for the OBBB that denied Medicaid benefits to millions of Americans and nutritional programs for needy children. In the world of MAGA, it is your fault if you are poor and you have no right to ask wealthy people to open their wallets to help. The milk of human kindness has no place in MAGAstan.

Until OBBB, developers only had to spend about 5% of the money earmarked for a project in order to get 4 years to complete it. The senators thought there was a promise to continue those rules, but then after the vote, they learned  the game had changed and the MAGAlomaniacs had pulled their pants down in public. Even a tinhorn dictator should know it is not wise to humiliate your supporters, but these people know no shame. Now those who were blindsided by the last minute bait and switch are taking a stand — sort of.

Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa this week announced he is placing a hold on three presidential nominations for the Treasury Department. According to Politico, Senator John Curtis of Utah may support Grassley. Others who may break ranks with the lunatic wing of the party are Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Joni Ernst of Iowa, and Jerry Moran of  Kansas. Those senators could bring enough political pressure on the administration to force it to make good on its promise to support an “all of the above” energy policy that includes those planned wind developments, because the alternative is less investment in their communities, fewer jobs, and rising electricity costs.

Ordinarily, a president likes to boast of job creation. It’s one of the tools that gets people re-elected. But the crazy person in the Offal Office today is 100% transactional. He is incapable of rational thought. His one and only talent is screaming “You’re fired!” at people like he did on his fake reality TV show for years. But as many have learned since January, he is all bluster. When he meets determined opposition, he caves, or as people on Wall Street now like to say, TACO — Trump Always Chickens Out. So there may be hope for those wind power projects. How embarrassing that America’s fake president has to be cajoled into doing the right thing for the citizens of the country.