MEMO: Trump Enlists Feds in Full-Scale War on American Energy

TO: Interested Parties

FROM: Alex Witt, Senior Advisor for Accountability Campaigns, Climate Power

RE: Trump Enlists Feds in Full-Scale War on American Energy

In just eight months, Donald Trump and his Republican allies have launched a full-scale, all-of-government assault on American energy — using every lever of federal power to undermine U.S. production and reward wealthy donors at the expense of the American people. The result? Job growth has stalled, working families are getting squeezed by skyrocketing costs, and the United States has been left more vulnerable to energy blackouts and other security crises.

Even as the Trump administration has publicly recognized that sky-high utility rates are a political liability, and Trump himself has flailed trying to shift blame, his Cabinet members have only intensified their efforts to crush vital American energy production, making the problem worse.

Trump’s executive actions, tariffs, and overall uncertainty have already cost or threatened over 80,000 energy jobs and driven up electricity bills by 10% nationwide — even before the Republican budget bill became law. That bill, rammed through Congress despite bipartisan opposition, aims to halt the explosive growth of wind, solar, and battery power, which together accounted for 94% of new U.S. energy capacity last year.

Once again, Trump is putting his personal vendetta against renewable energy ahead of the American people, scapegoating America’s own energy sources to protect billionaire oil interests. And across the Cabinet, departments have followed suit, implementing policies that have halted projects, cost jobs, and undermined America’s energy future:

The White House

Trump’s White House has systematically attacked American energy at every turn — blocking California from implementing vehicle pollution standards, rolling back clean energy tax credits, and ordering federal agencies to speed up their phaseout. Trump has  halted offshore wind leases, blocked permits and loans for wind projects, slashed renewable funding, and directed agencies to draft plans to cripple the offshore wind industry.

Department of the Interior

Trump’s Department of the Interior (DOI) has waged an all-out assault on clean energy, suspending new clean energy project permits on public lands. Secretary Doug Burgum centralized control by requiring his personal sign-off on clean energy permits, rescinded designated offshore wind areas, and ended an interagency agreement that streamlined energy permit approvals. He launched burdensome reviews expected to hamper wind and solar projects and fully halted New York’s Empire Wind project and Rhode Island’s nearly-completed Revolution Wind project.

Department of Energy

Trump’s Department of Energy (DOE) has gutted clean energy investments — cutting grant funding for offshore wind research in Maine, canceling a $3 billion loan guarantee to an American solar company, and terminating 24 clean energy awards. DOE pulled funding for a wind and solar transmission project in Kansas and Missouri and scrapped a $716 million loan for a New Jersey wind transmission line.

Environmental Protection Agency

Trump moved to end the Solar for All program, canceling $7 billion in grants before the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin officially shut it down. Zeldin then doubled down, staging a press conference and penning an op-ed to stoke fears about battery systems, undermining clean energy progress even further.

Department of Transportation

Trump’s Department of Transportation (DOT) has worked to stall clean energy at every turn, suspending state EV infrastructure plans, imposing rules to push wind turbines away from railroads and highways, and canceling $679 million in funding for a dozen offshore wind projects.

Department of Agriculture

Trump’s Department of Agriculture (USDA) is undercutting rural clean energy, canceling the Rural Energy for America Program’s grant window and moving to limit funding for wind and solar projects on farmland, stalling growth where it’s needed most.

Department of Commerce

Trump’s Commerce Department (DOC)  opened a so-called “national security” investigation into wind turbine components, setting the stage for new tariffs that could further drive up costs and undermine clean energy growth.

Department of the Treasury

Trump’s Treasury Department (USDT)  rewrote long-standing rules on when solar and wind projects are considered “under construction,” a change designed to strip clean energy projects of federal tax credits and make it harder for them to break ground.

United States Agency for International Development

Trump’s administration gutted U.S. leadership abroad by canceling at least 130 climate and clean energy contracts at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), abandoning projects that supported global clean energy development.

Department of Housing and Urban Development

Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) shut down the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program, cutting off funding for energy-efficient upgrades in affordable housing and undermining clean energy improvements for vulnerable communities.

Department of Justice

The Trump Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed plans to revoke the permit for Maryland’s offshore US Wind project and reconsider approval for Massachusetts’ SouthCoast Wind, putting major offshore clean energy projects at risk.

Department of Health and Human Services

At a Trump cabinet meeting, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. revealed an interdepartmental coalition of cabinet secretaries focused on targeting wind farms. HHS officials even launched studies to baselessly claim wind turbines might emit harmful electromagnetic fields, using dubious health concerns to stall clean energy development.

Department of Defense

The Trump Department of Defense (DOD) launched a probe into wind projects, using security concerns to block clean energy development. Doug Burgum claimed they could threaten national security by interfering with radar for airports, the military, and undersea drones.

General Services Administration
Trump’s General Services Administration (GSA) moved to disconnect thousands of EV charging ports at federal buildings, rolling back support for electric vehicles and undermining the transition to clean transportation.