On Friday, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued a secretarial order that could effectively prohibit his agency from issuing permits for wind and solar on federal lands unless they produce as much energy per acre as fossil fuels or nuclear power, reports Heatmap News . Specifically, the order directs the Interior Department to consider "a reasonable range of alternatives that includes projects with capacity densities meeting or exceeding that of the proposed project," when conducting a review under the National Environmental Policy Act.

"Based on common sense, arithmetic, and physics, wind and solar projects are highly inefficient uses of Federal lands," the order reads. "On a technology-neutral basis, wind and solar projects use disproportionate Federal lands relative to their energy gen

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