The Big Story 

The Trump administration is pausing approvals for new renewable energy projects involving public lands and water.

© Michael Sohn, Associated Press file

The Interior Department under President Trump quietly issued an order Monday that blocks activities that enable renewable development on federally-owned lands or offshore. 

For 60 days, the government will not issue any leases, rights of way, contracts or “any other agreement required to allow for renewable energy development.”

The directive was signed by acting Interior Secretary Walter Cruickshank, who is helming the agency until Trump’s nominee Doug Burgum is confirmed by the Senate.

The order says that its purpose is to implement “a targeted and time-limited elevation of relevant decisions at the Department of the Interior … for the purpose of reviewing the questions in fact, law, and policy they raise.”

It comes as Trump has launched an assault on wind energy in particular, issuing an executive order that pauses new approvals for wind energy. But applying the pause to renewables broadly is an escalation as it also pauses solar energy action as well.

Read more at TheHill.com.

Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, we’re Rachel Frazin and& Zack Budryk — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.

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What We’re Reading 

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• Park Service yanks job offers after Trump hiring freeze (The Washington Post)

   

• California just debunked a big myth about renewable energy (Grist)
  
  

• The U.S. is trying to unravel a hacking plot that targeted climate activists (NPR)

   

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Trump had ‘fiery’ call with Danish prime minister over Greenland: Report

President Trump reportedly held a “fiery” call with Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen over the president’s insistence that U.S. control of Greenland is necessary for American national security.  Read more

Opinions in The Hill 

Op-eds related to energy & environment submitted to The Hill: