The Interior Department looks to curb massive, unreliable and environmentally-damaging energy projects, citing wind and solar, per a new order from Secretary Doug Burgum that takes aim at what President Donald Trump has called ‘bird cemeteries.’
In the order obtained by Fox News Digital, Burgum uses what he described as an ‘objective, technology-neutral’ formula called capacity density that analyzes how much space an energy installation takes up and its effect on the area around it in relation to its output and reliability.
Burgum said Trump has asked his agency to consider that calculus to determine if a project will provide more energy benefits than impacts to its surroundings – which the agency determined puts scrutiny on solar and wind.
‘Gargantuan, unreliable, intermittent energy projects hold America back from achieving U.S. energy dominance while weighing heavily on the American taxpayer and environment,’ Burgum told Fox News Digital.
‘By considering energy generation optimization, the department will be able to better manage our federal lands, minimize environmental impact, and maximize energy development to further President Donald Trump’s energy goals.’
‘This commonsense order ensures our nation is stronger, our land use is optimized, and the American people are properly informed,’ he added.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration utilized capacity density to determine that an advanced nuclear energy plant produces 33 megawatts (MW) per acre compared to an offshore windmill installation producing 0.006 MW/acre – making the nuke plant 5,500 times more efficient than an entire wind farm.
In his order, Burgum highlighted the national security repercussions of an insufficient domestic energy production framework, and criticized ‘artificially stimulated’ wind and solar energy projects in recent years.
‘Such proliferation has displaced dispatchable energy sources and destabilized our electric grid,’ he said.
During a 2019 speech, Trump lambasted wind energy projects that lead to undue killing of birds and other wildlife.
Trump noted that it is a potentially felonious federal crime for a human to kill a single bald eagle, but that windmills likely have killed ‘hundreds’ without repercussions.
Wind power installations are ‘like a graveyard for birds. If you love birds, you’d never want to walk under a windmill because it’s a very sad, sad sight. It’s like a cemetery,’ Trump has also said.
During the 2016 campaign, he criticized Hillary Clinton’s support for green energy, quipping that putting a windmill near one’s home drops the property value by three-quarters.