Summary

See more from Canary Media’s "Chart of the week” column . State legislatures saw a torrent of anti-clean energy bills introduced this year — and little more than a trickle of measures that would benefit renewables. Fortunately, most of the legislation was not signed into law. As of June, with most states’…

Chart: State lawmakers introduced a ton of anti-renewables bills this year
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Chart: State lawmakers introduced aton of anti-renewables bills thisyear

Legislatures considered far more bills that would hamper clean energy than ones that would help it, anew analysis finds.

ByDan McCarthy
5 September 2025

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See more from*Canary Media’s“Chart of the week” column.*
State legislatures saw atorrent of anti-clean energy bills introduced this year —and little more than atrickle of measures that would benefit renewables. Fortunately, most of the legislation was not signed intolaw.
As of June, with most states’ legislative sessions wrapped up for the year,305bills related to the siting of new clean energy developments had been introduced across47states, according to anew reportfrom Clean Tomorrow, apolicy-focused nonprofit. Of those,148would likely have made it harder to build renewables, while just68would have helped wind, solar, or battery storage projects move forward. The remaining89would have had aneutral or unclear impact.
The vast majority of these bills stalled out, and of the few that were signed into law, slightly more were favorable to clean energy than hostile to it. Ten pro-renewables siting laws passed versus seven that are expected to restrict clean energy.
Still, the flood of new anti-renewables legislation underscores the increasingly hostile policy environment for clean energy.
Already,16states have significant restrictions on new solar, wind, and battery projects, and459counties and municipalities across44states have restrictions of their own, per aJune2025reportfrom the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. These restrictive policies range from giving local officials more authority over permitting decisions to imposing onerous setback requirements on projects, which prevent solar or wind from being built within acertain distance of, say, aroad or aproperty line.
Such policies are becoming more common around the U.S., the Sabin Center finds, afact that is not surprising given shrinking public approval for large clean energy projects. Support for expanding solar farms fell from66% to52% between September2022and this past June, per anAP/NORCpoll; pro-solar sentiment declined most among independents and Democrats over that period.
Still, some Democrat-led states are boosting policy support for clean energy deployment —most notablyColorado. Even in deep-red Ohio, the governor signed into law abipartisan, tech-neutral bill that isexpectedto make it modestly easier to build clean energy.
States and municipalities have significant power to advance clean energy, even without the federal government. They also have the ability to stifle it, making state and local government acrucial arena for the energy transition. Right now, with Trump’s all-out campaign against clean energy at their back, opponents of renewables have the momentum.
### Chart: Yes,USpower prices are rising. Don’t blame clean energy.
### Trump admin tightens vise on wind and solar with new taxrules
### Forcing dirty power plants to stay open would cost Americans billions
Policy&regulation
Clean energy
Dan McCarthyis a senior editor at Canary Media.
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Chart: State lawmakers introduced a ton of anti-renewables bills this year

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