All solar and wind energy projects on federal lands and waters must be personally approved by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum under a new order that authorizes him to conduct "elevated review" of activities ranging from leases to rights of way,

The department’s new policy requires Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s office to weigh in on virtually every permit for solar and wind projects with a nexus to Interior.

The new guidance “is yet another knife in the back of the transition to clean energy,” said Michael Gerrard, director of Columbia Law School's Sabin