Drones in wind farms and the fight for clean energy

Plus, Andy Burnham and Labour's last chance for energy success in UK

In today’s edition:

— State coalition sues Dept. of Defense, Hegseth, for blocking wind projects

— New UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham scrutinized over energy policies

— How climate change is suddenly making wildfires much bigger, and more harmful

— Where the buffalo roam: UK’s Cumbria new home to bison herd in wildlife plan

— It’s not just Canada; almost 80 wildfires now raging across U.S.

Drones? Where?

First underwater drones threatening offshore wind farms and now enemy drones hiding in wind turbines? It’s so far out that I wish I had thought of it for my book last year about a fictional series of drone attacks on the U.S., Unregulated Militia.

But that’s just what the Dept. of Defense, um, er, War, is alleging in its attempts to block more than 150 onshore wind farm projects across the country. This week a coalition of 19 states joined a federal lawsuit by the American Clean Power Association to force the government and Pete Hegseth to take action to start reviewing the projects again.

The suit alleges that the government has frozen all federal reviews of wind farm applications and projects, which in effect blocks them from moving forward. A vague reference to concerns about drones hiding out in the turbines, presumably waiting to attack unsuspecting farmers and turbine technicians, was all that was cited.

We imagine Hegseth has his hands full these days with the Iran war and the Pentagon running short on funds, and all that. And what’s another lawsuit when there are so many on the desk already. But in freezing these projects, the Trump administration is contributing to the country’s inability to lower electric prices for consumers. Not a good look before the midterm elections.

Nobody more than me would like to hear some government official explain how enemy drones could hide in wind farms, or why they would want to. But it seems the drone story is simply a convenient catch-all of a national security warning in this day of drone warfare in Eastern Europe that allows the government to move forward with its plans, whatever they are.

If you have ideas or suggestions for us, contact me directly at dcallaway@callawayclimateinsights.com.

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Tuesday’s subscriber insights

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham arrives at 10 Downing Street in London Monday morning. Photo: Kirsty O’Connor / No 10 Downing Street/flickr.

Andy Burnham and Labour’s last chance for cheap energy in UK