Trump’s crackdown on renewable energy has just begun

 July 9, 2025

 

Workers install solar panels in Galena, Alaska, in May

 

By Jake Spring

 

President Donald Trump issued an executive order Monday evening ordering his administration to crack down on remaining loopholes allowing access to renewable energy tax breaks, after Congress voted last week to overwhelmingly roll back the subsidies.

 

The order aims to placate the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, which argued the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by Trump on July 4 should have gone further to cut subsidies and reduce the law’s impact on the deficit.

 

Share prices of at least a dozen solar companies, including Enphase Energy and Sunrun, dropped after the order was signed.

 

A last-minute deal between Senate and House Republicans last week agreed to allow wind and solar facilities that break ground within 12 months to receive subsidies for several years. Democrats uniformly opposed the bill, which gutted the Inflation Reduction Act, President Joe Biden’s signature climate law.

 

Deficit hawks in the Freedom Caucus signed onto the deal after the White House assured them it would take further action to strictly enforce those rules in a bid to cut back the number of projects that qualified for subsidies.

 

“We met with President Trump and he did a masterful job of laying out how we could improve it, how he could use his chief executive office to make the bill better,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina) told CNBC on Thursday.

 

“We accepted the bill as-is. What is different is President Trump is going to use his powers to — like on the subsidies — to make sure a lot of these subsidies won’t remain in effect from here on out.”

 

In a statement Tuesday, Norman praised Trump for keeping his pledge by issuing the executive order.

 

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) exchange words during a House Rules Committee meeting after the Senate passed Trump’s tax and immigration bill on Tuesday July 1. (Demetrius

 

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

 

Monday’s order directed the treasury secretary to narrowly define what it means for projects to be “under construction” by the deadline. The order says the department should prevent projects from circumventing rules about what counts as beginning construction, “unless a substantial portion of a subject facility has been built.”

 

Restricting that loophole could reduce the number of projects that qualify for the tax breaks and potentially save the government hundreds of millions of dollars, said Thomas Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, a conservative think tank.

 

“The Trump administration could, when they issue guidance, tighten up the definitions and make it very specific in terms of what is under construction,” Pyle said. “There’s attention on the language that the administration, when it issues guidance, will be doing so in a way to make sure these guys aren’t gaming the system.” [As they have done regularly since 2013 when the fast and loose IRS guidance was issued under the Obama administration.]

 

Manish Bapna, president of the environmental Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group, said the executive order could be used merely to enact the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — or it could be used to overstep and go beyond what the law mandates.

 

“The real question is whether this is more bark than bite,” Bapna said. “If we see this go beyond the letter and intent of the law, we will take the administration to court.”

 

The order also directs the Interior Department to eliminate any policies that give preferential treatment to wind and solar.

 

Trump’s order appears to be targeting established tax rules that are aimed at allowing for a realistic timeline for financing energy projects of all kinds, including solar and wind, said Abby Hopper, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, in a statement. [The fact that Bapna and Hopper are furious about this is a good sign.]

 

“We will continue to make the case that business certainty, predictability, and even-handedness are bedrocks of federal policy that cannot be undone by the stroke of a pen,” Hopper said. “We expect the Treasury Department to follow the law.”

 

Trump officials crack down on remaining renewable energy loopholes - The Washington Post