Jackalope Wind Project Hops onto Ash Heap of Green Energy History
As the windfarm dreams burn down to cinders, it’s worth remembering that from honest reckoning with failure, sound energy policy can actually rise from the ashes.
As I am writing this on Ash Wednesday, I decided to take a look at the now mountainous pile of windfarm projects that have been tossed onto the ash heap of Green Energy history…thanks to President Donald Trump and his insistence that American energy sources be dependable, efficient, and as inexpensive as reasonably possible.
Last week, I noted that Now Wyoming’s top land officials moved to rescind the state wind leases underpinning the Pronghorn H2 and Sidewinder projects, effectively putting both projects on a path toward cancellation. It turns out that these projects were being constructed to support another untested and untried technology, and were unpopular with local residents.
Now, an amusingly named Jackalope Wind project in that state has hopped onto the Green Energy ash heap.
NextEra Energy (NEE) has canceled its 600 MW Jackalope wind farm project in Wyoming, The New York Times reported Wednesday, in the latest casualty of President Trump’s efforts to slow or stop federal approvals for wind and solar projects.
A key environmental review of Jackalope Wind by the Interior Department was stalled for months, and the project is now effectively dead, the report said.
The project, which was expected to be operational by summer 2027, signed an agreement in late 2024 with Idaho Power (IDA) to sell energy produced by the farm over 35 years.
In September, the Idaho utility canceled its contracts with Jackalope Wind, citing “uncertainties related to the federal permitting process,” and has since accelerated plans to install nine engines that burn natural gas.
Given that the jackalope is a mythical creature that may be the result of jack rabbits being infected with a nasty virus that results in facial tentacles, perhaps the name is fitting. Green energy scams and pseudoscience have infected the American economy, and funding tentacles sprouted that are only now being treated.
Next, after a cold snap so frost Lake Erie froze, New York State is clearly rethinking its “NetZero” goals.
New York State on Friday cited “federal disruptions” and “market uncertainty” in canceling its latest and largest request for new offshore wind energy, months after several bidders had already pulled out of the process.
Nixing the solicitation puts an end, for now, to a plan that foresaw potentially thousands of new wind power arrays in deep waters off New York and New Jersey.
In a statement Friday, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, which administers the state’s clean energy programs, said it “would not be prudent” to move ahead with its prior request for proposals for upward of 4,000 megawatts for offshore wind “given the current level of uncertainty” in the nascent, and troubled, U.S. offshore wind market. The bidding closed without an award “at this time,” NYSERDA said.
NYSERDA in its statement said “federal actions disrupted the market and instilled significant uncertainty into offshore wind project development.”
As Beege Welborn of Hot Air notes, Trump is being used as an excuse to begin walking away from wind-driven eco-insanity.
No doubt this ongoing industry turmoil has been playing into NY’s looking for a graceful exit, and Trump is that guy who gives them one.
But I’d bet there’s even more to it.
People aren’t falling for the renewables-in-the-tailpipe anymore. They’re simply no longer willing to be gullible – they can’t afford it. And especially worrying to Mid-Atlantic and New England governors, their core voting demographic is feeling ‘misled.’
And The New York Times is all too happy to push the Trump-blaming narrative.
While Mr. Trump’s attacks on offshore wind have been highly visible, his administration has also been hobbling solar and wind energy projects on land by halting or delaying federal approvals that were once routine.
More than 60 large wind and solar farms under development on federal lands, such as Jackalope Wind, are being stymied. But the administration is also holding up hundreds of wind and solar projects on private land that require federal consultations. Many projects are facing potentially fatal delays, according to interviews with more than a dozen energy companies, industry groups and analysts.
The extra layer of scrutiny for wind and solar contrasts with actions by the Trump administration to make it easier and cheaper for companies to produce oil, coal, gas and nuclear power.
I will simply point out, as I often do, that nuclear power is the most efficient “Net Zero” option on the table. If the NYT were serious about carbon concerns, it would be happy with the Trump administration’s push for nuclear.
Meanwhile, enjoy the climate cultist tears and the cheap fuel prices. That is, unless you live in California.
From the ashes of “NetZero” fantasies, a clearer path is finally emerging that is built on sound engineering and science, not climate-hysteria-pushing slogans.
On this Ash Wednesday, as the windfarm dreams burn down to cinders, it’s worth remembering that from honest reckoning with failure, sound energy policy can actually rise from the ashes.
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