Congresswoman Lee Grills Trump Interior Secretary on Attempt to Kill Solar in Nevada

May 13, 2026 Press Release “I request unanimous consent to enter into the record this amazing new technology that apparently the Secretary is unaware of. It's a battery.”: HNRC Ranking Member Huffman Image Download Full Video WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Susie Lee (NV-03) pressed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on the Trump Administration’s weaponization of the permitting process to crush solar in Nevada, despite analysis from Lazard, the world’s largest independent investment bank, which found solar and wind to be the “clear cheapest choice” when deciding which new power sources to build. Since July 2025, the Department of the Interior (DOI) has required Secretary Burgum’s personal approval of every permit related to solar and wind energy development — even as the White House has offered “concierge, white glove service” to oil, coal and other fossil fuel companies seeking to gain fast approval for their projects. Below is a transcript of Congresswoman Lee’s questions and Burgum’s answers: LEE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Secretary, for being here. Just weeks after you were here last year in June, Interior published its July 15th memo requiring your personal approval on any and all solar and wind permits. This basically created a total permitting mess in my home state of Nevada, stalling 93% of all new energy capacity in our state. This new red tape had gotten so bad that our Republican governor, Joe Lombardo, ended up having to, what he said “call an audience” with the President in an attempt to clean it up. On a December podcast, here's how the governor said his meeting went, quote: “Nevada utilizes solar energy more than any other state in the nation. I walked President Trump through it and he goes, ‘Okay, sounds good. I'm glad you brought it up. I'll call Burgum and tell them it's allowable in Nevada.’” So my first question is pretty simple, Mr. Secretary: Nevada currently has the third highest unemployment rate in the country. Our governor himself has emphasized that solar, if unleashed, would bring tens of thousands of good paying jobs and several billion dollars of economic benefits to our state. My question is, did the President keep his promise and personally call you to tell you that solar development is allowable in my home state? BURGUM: We are following the law required for permitting, and I... LEE: It was just a yes or no. Did the President call you based on his conversation with the Governor? BURGUM: President Trump has been clear about the energy dominance agenda that we have, and we're instructed to work on anything that is affordable, reliable and secure, and that we're following the law in terms of the permitting to get that done. We know that there are projects moving forward. But one thing to clarify, your opening statement said that I personally have to sign it. Actually it says that the Secretary's office, the Secretary's office includes all the administrative staff, not just a local district office or not... LEE: Can I reclaim my time? Since for the past year in my home state, there have been zero permits issued on solar. And with respect to following the law:the fact of the matter is, a judge actually struck down the July 15th memo last month. So regardless of whether or not you agree with the court order, I guess my question is what's the immediate impact that that's having? Are you just not going to abide by the court order? BURGUM: Well, we had a... you're referring to a single district judge that felt that he had the authority to tell a federal department... LEE: Are you appealing it? BURGUM: Yeah, absolutely. Because we reject the whole premise. I mean, the idea that a single judge could decide what the process that we're supposed to go through internally to make sure that we're complying with the law through a complex permitting process is absurd. And I think that you would you would object to a judge telling a single judge telling this committee how to run the committee. I mean, we have three separate, equal branches of government that each have their own responsibilities, and ours is to execute on the the permitting responsibilities that we have. LEE: So with respect to that, I want to get back to your assertion that you're looking at all affordable types of energy. According to Lazard, the world's largest independent investment bank, when faced with a choice of what kind of new power sources to build, wind and solar are the clear cheapest choice when accounting for capital fuel operations and maintenance costs. That's true, even without the federal wind and solar subsidies that Republicans and the President have unwound in the GOP budget that passed in July. So, my point is this: as you said, we are in an arms race, an AI arms race. In Nevada, our own Governor has contended, it is a fact that solar energy, 93% of our new capacity of energy in our state is on hold. And my only request is, based on what we understand the conversation to have been between the Governor and the President, that solar development be allowable in our state. I mean, you're a businessman. To have projects and billions of dollars of investment literally be stalled in their tracks in a form of energy — and I am I have always been a contender that we should look at all forms of energy — but in my home state of Nevada, solar energy is the predominant, clearest choice. When you look at new capacity of cheap energy coming online, and my only request of you and your department, whoever it is in your department, that will make the decision that we look at these and start to pass these permits along so we can get this development process. And by the way, I'll just say this: when you're looking at permitting reform, the single thing that prevents it from happening is this memo, this July 15th memo that is stalling. If you would just rescind that memo, we could get permitting reform passed this Congress, and we can start to talk about permitting all forms of energy. So, I just ask, Mr. Secretary, that we work on making sure we can move solar development. And I yield. CHAIR WESTERMAN: The gentlelady’s time has expired, the Chair now recognizes... BURGUM: The Lazard analysis that suggests that this is the cheapest form of energy... all of these projects you are describing in Nevada have one thing in common: when the sun goes down, they produce zero electricity, and this nation over-rotated towards intermittent forms of energy. And the idea that we could add intermittent and shut down baseload is what put our grid at deep risk. And to the idea that it's the cheapest: if you want to add intermittent, you have to keep everything else. And so the so we have to have a discussion about the total cost of grid, not the cost of the incremental, because it's true on an incremental basis, you may have an incremental source, but it doesn't work. The whole machine doesn't work when the sun goes down. And there's examples from around the world of this happening. And so it's a, you know, cherry picking an analysis that doesn't look. We're looking at reliable, affordable and secure. And I would encourage everybody here to get in a SCIF and understand that most of these components, very few of these components for the solar industry are coming from the US. They're coming from China. And just like we had with Huawei equipment, there's modifications on those that would allow foreign governments to interfere with our grid. And I just want to I want to have a rational discussion with everybody. This is not an ideological thing. It's about reliable, affordable and secure. Those three things. LEE: I'm all for rational conversation about it. I'll just say we are not shutting down baseload energy to build solar, and I will contend we have battery storage as well. CHAIR: So we're going to we're going to move on to the next question… RANKING MEMBER HUFFMAN: Chairman, I request unanimous consent to enter into the record this amazing new technology that apparently the Secretary is unaware of. It's a battery. China has figured it out. That's why they're cleaning our clock on clean energy. But I want to enter that into the record. CHAIR: Without objection? So ordered. Congresswoman Lee has fought tirelessly against the Trump Administration’s weaponization of the permitting process against solar and worked to include “all-of-the-above” language providing equal treatment of all energy sources in House Republicans’ primary permitting reform bill, which the House passed last year. She recently questioned Energy Secretary Chris Wright, during which he broke with Secretary Burgum and agreed that it should be easier to permit and build solar. Secretary Wright said he would personally engage with Secretary Burgum on this issue. On April 7, Sean Gallagher, senior vice president of policy at the Solar Energy Industries Association, told E&E News that despite some recent movement on select solar permits at the federal level, the “vast majority” of developers are “still in the dark about whether or how their projects and permits will be considered by the Department of the Interior.” “Developers and investors need confidence that their projects will be able to move through the permitting process in good faith and without unfair treatment based on energy source,” Gallagher said in a statement. “The reality is that Interior could provide that clarity today by revoking their July memo.” As southern Nevada’s sole representative on the House Natural Resources Committee, Congresswoman Lee is doing everything possible to protect public lands and parks, combat climate change, build a clean energy economy, and lower energy costs for hardworking Nevadans. Issues : Economy, Jobs, & Small Businesses Energy & Public Lands