Congresswoman Lee Questions Energy Sec. Wright on Solar Projects, Nuclear Waste

At today’s Fiscal Year 2027 Department of Energy (DOE) budget hearing in the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, Congresswoman Susie Lee (NV-03) secured a commitment from Secretary of Energy Chris Wright to join her in pressing Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to end the Trump Administration’s ongoing weaponization of the federal permitting process that has slowed or stopped solar projects in Nevada and nationwide. 

Secretary Wright agreed with Congresswoman Lee that it should be easier to permit and build solar, and he said he would personally engage with Secretary Burgum on this issue. The two secretaries co-lead President Trump’s National Energy Dominance Council.

During questioning by Congresswoman Lee, Secretary Wright also reaffirmed his commitment that neither he nor President Trump support Yucca Mountain. 

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.

Throughout that time, Congresswoman Lee has fought tirelessly against the Trump Administration’s weaponization of the permitting process against solar, leading the charge 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. Three times, Republicans refused to allow her language into the bill. 

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.” 

Below is a transcript of Congresswoman Lee’s questions and Secretary Wright’s answers:

Rep. Lee – “My first question: Last year, you acknowledged — publicly, plainly, and to the point — that “the people of Nevada are not in favor of Yucca Mountain, and thus President Trump and I do not support Yucca Mountain as a waste repository.”

“So, I just want to hear, it's music to my ears, a reaffirmation of that.”

Secretary Wright– “Yes, none of those facts have changed. President Trump is not in support of Yucca mountain, and I don’t know if you missed our earlier dialogue, but we are searching around for who wants to host waste disposal sites; 28 states responded. We’re going to have plenty of opportunities for [where] nuclear waste disposal will go, and it will go into states who are leaning in and want to do it.”

Rep. Lee – “Great, thank you. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, my state of Nevada “leads the nation in solar power potential.”

“I just heard your response to [another member of the committee] so I understand where you stand on that.

“It is now quite clear, from both your budget requests as well as your work on the National Energy Dominance Council, that you are choosing to prioritize other forms of energy, particularly from fossil fuels like oil and gas.

“While we obviously have different points of view on that, I’m hoping that we can at least see eye to eye on this much:

“When the Interior Department began insisting last year that every single solar and wind permit it processes must now be personally approved by Secretary Burgum, one of the leaders of the center-right Foundation for American Innovation (FAI) — whose 2025 annual gala here in Washington featured you as a keynote speaker — responded this way:

“They said, it’s “Not good. […] There are lots of ways to encourage certain sources’ deployment. Sitting on disfavored sources’ permits is among the worst.”

“So I just wanted to, Secretary, debating how and where to direct federal funding for different forms of energy, that’s one thing, it’s certainly in your purview — but surely you’d agree with me and the folks at FAI that weaponizing the permitting process itself against solar is a step too far?”

Secretary Wright– “Yeah, I have been for the deployment of secure, reliable, affordable energy – I don’t care what the source is. I don’t have favorite sources and less favorite sources, I just do the math.  It’s usually some combination. 

And of course Nevada is a very favorable solar state. Are we going to see new solar development? Does solar have a future? Absolutely. And should it be easier to permit and build things, I think I had that dialogue [earlier]? I agree with you entirely as well.”

Rep. Lee – “You know, I completely agree with you. I always say we have so many energy needs in this country, that it’s an all of the above approach. 

“But what we are seeing in Nevada in particular are solar projects and wind projects that have literally been stopped in their tracks from development, waiting for the personal approval of the Secretary of the Interior. We’ve gotten some indication that maybe some are going to move forward, maybe some are not, but literally coming from a state with that potential, that has the highest per-capita solar workforce in the country, it’s really debilitating to our economy in Nevada. And I would say, our governor, Joe Lombardo, has agreed with that and asked for some reprieve from this Administration. 

“So I just ask if you would join me in talking to Secretary Burgum to restore the type of permitting parity in our state that we’re talking about to ensure fair treatment for all forms of energy?”

Secretary Wright– “Absolutely. Again, I engage with Secretary Burgum a lot, and I will on this issue as well.”

Rep. Lee – “Great, thank you. When you were last here in May 2025, I had asked you directly about maintaining support for DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office.

“And you replied: “Yes, I think you’ll see continued work on solar at the Department of Energy,” calling solar “an energy source with a future.”

“Yet, weeks later, you released your budget request seeking to zero out funding to the Solar Energy Technologies Office entirely — and this is something that you again are seeking in this year's budget.

“So, how do you square your commitment to this committee last year that you would continue your work in this area with your back-to-back requests that Congress cut literally all funding to the very office that’s responsible for doing the bulk of this work?”

Secretary Wright– “We will continue research in solar, I believe it is consistent with our budget request. We have a lot of efforts at multiple national labs on pursuing solar technology going forward and have no plans to change that.”

Rep. Lee – “Okay well your budget request has it zeroed out again. Which, by the way, Congress bipartisanly rejected [last] year, so I hope we can get an amendment adjustment to that.”

Secretary Wright– “Yeah, we should continue to dialogue and work on that. I’m proud of the work our labs are doing and [that] we’ve done in advancing solar technologies and there’s many applications for solar, some exciting and new applications for solar as well.”

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