On July 15, 2025, the Department of the Interior's Chief of Staff issued a memorandum articulating the agency's new policy to implement more stringent review procedures for all actions related to wind and solar energy facilities. The procedures require "submission [of decisions, actions, etc.] to the Office of the Executive Secretariat and Regulatory Affairs, subsequent review by the Office of the Deputy Secretary, and final review by the Office of the Secretary." In a press release, Interior stated that the review process would be "elevated" to "end[] preferential treatment for unreliable, subsidy-dependent wind and solar energy."
Interior takes this action in response to President Trump's Executive Order 14315 (Ending Market Distorting Subsidies for Unreliable, Foreign-Controlled Energy Sources) and other executive orders to further the administration's "energy dominance" agenda.