President-elect Donald Trump has attacked wind turbines and pledged to stop building them in his administration.

Senate Democrats asked his nominee to head the Interior Department, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, what he’ll do regarding these federally subsidized projects.

“I’m not familiar with every project that the Interior has underway, but I’ll certainly be taking a look at all of those. And if it makes sense and they’re already in law, they’ll continue,” Mr. Burgum told Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with the Democrats.

Mr. Trump denounced windmills as expensive and environmentally damaging. On Wednesday, he posted on Truth Social that he doesn’t want “even one built during my administration.” Earlier this month, he sided with critics of offshore wind projects along the eastern seaboard who say the construction is “driving the whales crazy.”

Mr. Burgum acknowledged climate change, calling it, “a global phenomenon, for sure,” but argued that battery storage and other renewable energy innovations have not progressed enough to make it feasible to power the country without fossil fuels. Mr. Burgum said battery storage has improved at about only 2% per year.

“We need all forms of energy and we need it in the very near term,” Mr. Burgum said, adding that he takes an “all of the above” approach, “but we need to do it in a way that is affordable.”

• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.