President Donald Trump’s Department of the Interior has nixed the Lava Ridge Wind Project that was pushed through late in the dying days of the Biden administration.
The project would have installed a vast wind farm consisting of 231 wind turbines along 57,447 acres of rural Idaho landscape, Town Hall reported.
The need for energy solutions remains a priority, but wind farms have long been found to be ineffective and expensive.
Typically, wind farms only benefit those behind the projects who are cashing in on government incentives.
Still, former President Joe Biden’s Bureau of Land Management approved the project in December 2024.
It would have created the largest wind farm on land.
It was claimed that it would generate 1,000 megawatts of power, but this technology comes with many more downsides.
When announcing the cancellation, the Department of the Interior cited some of the cons of the renewable energy source.
In a statement, the department said:
“Under President Donald J. Trump, the Department of the Interior will no longer provide preferential treatment towards unreliable, intermittent power sources that harm rural communities, livelihoods, and the land, such as the Lava Ridge Wind Project and the radical Green New Scam agenda that burdens our nation and public lands.”
The decision is one welcomed by the people of Idaho and its leaders.
The project was a bad policy for several reasons, but Interior Department officials found out that the project was also full of “crucial legal deficiencies” in the way then-President Biden approved it.
The department found that “unique statutory criteria that were ignored” at the time, which was enough to give the Interior Department pause.
Trump had made it a priority to halt the project on day one of his presidency, suspecting that the controversial project was rubber-stamped during Biden’s final month in office.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum praised Trump for doing so in a statement.
“Under President Donald Trump’s bold leadership, the Department is putting the brakes on deficient, unreliable energy and putting the American people first,” Burgum wrote.
“This decisive action defends the American taxpayer, safeguards our land, and averts what would have been one of the largest, most irresponsible wind projects in the nation.
“By reversing the Biden administration’s thoughtless approval of the Lava Ridge Wind Project, we are protecting tens of thousands of acres from harmful wind policy while shielding the interests of rural Idaho communities,” Burgum added.
The decision was also popular with Idaho Gov. Brad Little, who passed an executive order similar to Trump’s that was aptly named “Gone with the Lava Ridge Wind Project Act.”
Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson also celebrated the project’s demise.
“For four years, the Biden administration demonstrated that it would rather prioritize renewable wind power over multiple-use mandates directed by Congress,” Simpson wrote.
Simpson added that Biden didn’t “genuinely engage with stakeholders to address concerns about the Minidoka National Historic Site, grazing, wildfire response, and more” during the approval process.
Despite all of the problems that come with wind turbines, including aviation concerns, impact on wildlife, and quality of life, some in Idaho are lamenting the project’s cancellation, according to the Idaho Capital Sun.
The Idaho Conservation League said that this decision does not address the continued need for renewable energy.
“While the Lava Ridge Project wasn’t perfect, we desperately need to develop new sources of renewable energy in order to meet the growing demand for electricity and replace carbon-emitting coal and gas power plants,” the environmental conservation group said in a statement.
The 2024 report from Idaho’s Office of Energy and Mineral Resources’ Energy Landscape 2024 Report noted that 40% of its energy comes from out of state.
“If the Lava Ridge Project is not a suitable location, then we need to work together to find locations that are suitable for the development of wind and solar in Idaho,” the Idaho Conservation League claimed.
“Opposing all wind and solar projects is not a viable solution.”
The organization believes that continuing to use more coal and fossil fuels to generate energy is a net negative for the people of Idaho.
“At the end of the day, if we fail to develop wind and solar projects, then we will be on the hook for higher electric bills and longer, hotter, drier, and smokier summers,” the organization claimed.
Wind farms are unsightly and use vast expanses of open space that could otherwise be used to farm or for recreation.
Nobody wants these on their land, but radical environmentalists want to keep pushing it on people in rural communities.
Trump was right to do what he did, and the people of Idaho are grateful to him for it.
READ MORE – Trump Takes Firm Stance Against Wind Energy Expansion
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