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.

WASHINGTON (AP) — 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, construction and operational plans, grants and biological opinions.

The changes follow a spending bill signed by Trump that begins phasing out federal tax credits for renewable energy and expands support for coal and natural gas projects. Trump, a longtime critic of wind and solar, has made fossil fuel expansion a central goal of his energy policy.