When the Pentagon Slow-Walks Climate Jobs

Here's what happened: The Defense Department stopped processing national security reviews of wind energy projects in May 2026, even though federal law requires those reviews to be completed within 75 days. A federal court just stepped in and ordered the Pentagon to get back to work.

Why does the Pentagon review wind projects at all? Because some wind farms sit near military installations, and the Pentagon has a legitimate job: making sure they don't interfere with radar or other defense systems. That's reasonable. The problem is the department used that legitimate authority as a tool to stall an entire industry.

This matters because clean energy isn't some future thing anymore, it's happening now, and it's where the jobs are. When the Pentagon freezes reviews, it freezes construction projects, freezes hiring, freezes paychecks. Real people waiting for work. Real communities waiting for the tax revenue and the economic activity that comes with it.

The court's order is a win, but it's also a symptom of a bigger problem: our government institutions are being used to pick winners and losers based on politics, not evidence. The Pentagon's job is national security. When it uses that power to block job creation in renewable energy, it's doing something else entirely.

Read more: Washington Post