The Department of the Interior, or DOI, has such a wide-ranging set of duties that it’s sometimes referred to in Washington, D.C., as “the department of everything else” — public lands, natural resources, wildlife regulations, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs all fall under its auspices. It is now also the tip of the spear in the Trump administration’s war on renewables.

On July 17, the DOI announced that all wind and solar projects would have to undergo “elevated review” from department Secretary Doug Burgum’s office. On July 29, Burgum ordered an end to “preferential treatment” for “unreliable, foreign controlled energy sources,” specifically wind and solar. The next day, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which sits within the DOI, rescinded all designated Wind Energy Areas

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