Energy Policy and Permitting

Axios reports that more than two dozen onshore wind farms across the United States — at least 30 projects totaling roughly 7.5 gigawatts of capacity — are being delayed because the Trump administration’s War Department has stopped signing routine ‘mitigation agreements’ that clear turbines near military radar and aviation assets. American Clean Power Association CEO Jason Grumet says these reviews, normally a negotiated formality, have turned into a paperwork logjam over the last several months, with the trade group sending a March 2026 letter to Assistant Secretary of War Dale Marks seeking an explanation and hinting at a potential Administrative Procedure Act lawsuit if there is no response by April 8. The stalled projects are part of a broader scramble to power energy‑hungry AI data centers that major tech firms — and publicly, Trump himself — say are critical to winning the global AI race, making the slowdown a direct constraint on U.S. digital‑infrastructure growth. The article notes Trump’s long‑standing hostility to wind energy, his public remark that his 'goal is to not let any windmill be built,' and the administration’s failed attempts to justify offshore wind crackdowns on national‑security grounds, which Grumet suggests may now be migrating to land‑based projects without clear evidence. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who just struck a $1 billion deal to cancel TotalEnergies’ offshore leases in favor of oil and gas, told Axios that onshore wind carries fewer national‑security concerns and is cheaper, underscoring internal policy contradictions that are already fueling political attacks over energy prices and war‑driven fuel spikes. With odds of congressional permitting reform now pegged at only 25% by Rapidan Energy Group, developers and clean‑energy advocates see the Pentagon bottleneck and the TotalEnergies deal as emerging flashpoints in the battle over how fast the U.S. can expand domestic clean power in the middle of the Iran war and AI‑driven electricity demand.