Trump Killed Lava Ridge Wind Project?
October 11th, 2025
And so also killed related transmission project?
Whoa, wake up and get up to date!
A recent blurb over the wire caught my attention, Wind Farm Trump Killed Derails a Major Transmission Line (subscribers only), so I’m looking…
Southwest Intertie Project (SWIP)
From CAISO:
Sooooo… Remember the Lava Ridge Wind Project? Ran into that when going through Idaho, they wanted to build it next to Minidoka National Historic Site. (weird, there’s a marching band going past outside the window! SQUIRREL!). The Friends of Minidoka site hasn’t been updated.
Yes, it is true, the wind project is cancelled, and that was “way back” in January, 2025, in that HUGE cluster of emissions from the Trump administration just after the inauguration! How did I miss that Lava Ridge was cancelled? Outlets are saying Trump cancelled it with an Executive Order. All reports are that it was an Executive Order, but no, its a Memorandum, no wonder I couldn’t find it: Temporary Withdrawal of All Outer Continental Shelf Areas From Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of Federal Government Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects (Memorandum of January 20, 2025), which includes:
Anyhoo, the wind project was cancelled, and the transmission in the midst of that line? Apparently cancellation of that wind project tanks a transmission project through the area!! Cancellation of the transmission is old news too?
Again, this is what was in my inbox, and I had to follow it up:
Maybe it’s not killed, as I can’t confirm this — there were a lot of recent approvals, granted last administration, grant money from feds, all systems go recently. Some transmission funding has been cancelled, but where’s the list? Since January, no project specific news at all. The transmission line may well be collateral damage from cancellation of the wind project, but inside information? Nothing official that I can find.
About that Southwest Intertie Transmission Project, begun DECADES ago, and for sure delay, delay, delay…
It’s 275 miles of 500kV line. First, the BLM page, and you can see that this project has been in the works for a LONG time:
Southwest Intertie Project (SWIP)
The SWIP Final Environmental Impact Statement is from 1994, over 20 years ago?!?!
And yes, cancelling the wind project is “old news” too, from early August, 2025:
US DOI revokes approval of 1GW Lava Ridge wind project in Idaho
And here’s how Dept of Interior is framing it:
Interior Department Moves to Cancel Reckless Biden-era Approval of Lava Ridge Wind Project
Right after that, the Governor of Idaho signed an Executive Order, mirroring the intent of Trump’s Memorandum:
However you look at it, Lava Ridge Wind Project is dead. The Southwest Intertie Transmission Project (SWIP)? Not clear at all!
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