Army Corps of Engineers begins implementing policy to increase America’s energy generation efficiency

Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Adam Telle today directed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to weigh whether energy projects that might impact America's navigable waters would actually deliver significant energy, relative to impacts, for the American people before it allows such activity.

Telle's action represents a key step toward implementing the National Energy Emergency declared in President Trump's Executive Order 14156 dated Jan. 20, 2025, which is effectively ensuring American Energy Dominance

"The guidance that I provided to the Corps today is in direct response to President Trump's leadership and vision to make America energy dominant," said Telle. "Our nation has a finite amount of land that we must use efficiently to compete globally during the 21st Century, and the Corps will now consider an energy generation project's energy density or energy- generation-per-acre as it makes permitting decisions.

"We will prioritize those projects that generate the highest energy return on investment for the American public. This policy will conserve land, reduce environmental impact, and incentivize energy generation at a time when we cannot waste our precious land resources."

The guidance directs the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prioritize processing Clean Water Act and Rivers and Harbors Act permit applications related to projects that would generate the most annual energy generation per acre over projects with low generation per acre. Considerations will include a project's annual potential energy generation per acre, whether it would displace more reliable energy sources, and whether it would denigrate the aesthetics of America's natural landscape.

Energy generation types vary in how much land they require to generate the same amount of power and therefore vary in how much they impact the environment. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), to generate 2,000 megawatts, an onshore wind farm requires 170,000 acres and a solar farm requires 12,000 acres. The same data also indicates that advanced nuclear reactors can develop the same 2,000 megawatts using only 60 acres.