At least eight relate directly to energy policy with four eliminating more than 200 rules, regulations, and executive orders issued under the Biden administration. This includes any regulations or rules adopted within the last 60 days and any allocations authorized under two “New Green Deal” bills adopted in 2021 and 2022.
Two of the seven are dedicated to specific issues in Alaska and California, and one implements a temporary pause in offshore wind development leasing. Tucked inside another one are directives calling for dramatic expansions of offshore oil and gas leasing.
One of Trump’s signature campaign slogans was “Drill, baby, drill.”
As expected, perhaps the least complicated of the eight energy and environment-related actions is Trump’s order withdrawing the United States from 2015’s Paris Climate Accords, which Trump did in 2017 and vowed to do again during his 2024 campaign.
The sweeping action rescinds “all regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, and any other similar agency actions … promulgated, issued, or adopted between Jan. 20, 2021, and Jan. 20, 2025,” essentially erasing dozens of Biden-era actions related to Alaska.
During Trump’s first term, Congress directed the Department of Interior (DOI) to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling for the first time. Under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the DOI was required to conduct two annual lease auctions within Section 1002, a 1.5-million acre coastal plain expanse that the U.S. Geological Survey estimates could hold up to 11.8 billion barrels of oil.
“Today, this enormous water supply flows wastefully into the Pacific Ocean,” the executive order reads. “The recent deadly and historically destructive wildfires in Southern California underscore why the State of California needs a reliable water supply and sound vegetation management practices in order to provide water desperately needed there, and why this plan must immediately be reimplemented.”
The Paris Climate Accord withdrawal, Alaska oil and gas, and Southern California water executive action packets are relatively straightforward with narrow apertures.
‘Unleashing American Energy’
The 3,456-word “Unleashing American Energy” executive order states the administration’s intent “to establish our position as the leading producer and processor of non-fuel minerals, including rare earth minerals … to protect the United States’ economic and national security” and includes executive orders, actions, directives, and policy guidance.Many provisions in this order enact or begin the process of encoding initiatives that Trump frequently cited in campaign rallies and also in his Policy47 agenda platform.
One provision pledges to “eliminate the “electric vehicle (EV) mandate” imposed by the Department of Transportation’s fuel-efficiency rules that would lift average fuel economy to 50 miles per gallon by 2031.
Trump’s order states that the action will ensure “a level regulatory playing field for consumer choice in vehicles” and calls for eliminating “unfair subsidies and other ill-conceived government-imposed market distortions that favor EVs over other technologies and effectively mandate their purchase.”
The order calls for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take measures to roll back tailpipe pollution limits for cars, SUVs, and trucks that were finalized in March 2024.
Trump’s order maintains the White House must act “to safeguard the American people’s freedom to choose from a variety of goods and appliances, including but not limited to lightbulbs, dishwashers, washing machines, gas stoves, water heaters, toilets, and shower heads, and to promote market competition and innovation within the manufacturing and appliance industries.”
The executive order includes provisions that launch an “immediate review of actions that potentially burden the development of domestic energy resources” and a revocation/revisions section that abolishes 12 executive orders issued by Biden, including the creation of a Climate Change Support Office and an executive order essential to the implementation of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Another order within the package focuses on expediting permitting and simplifying compliance related to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
The order requires agency officials to have a plan within 30 days that includes the rescission of any regulations and rules added through the IRA to NEPA purview by the Biden administration.
The order authorizes the directors of the National Economic Council and the Office of Legislative Affairs to jointly prepare recommendations to Congress that “facilitate the permitting and construction of interstate energy transportation and other critical energy infrastructure, including, but not limited to, pipelines … and provide greater certainty in the Federal permitting process, including, but not limited to, streamlining the judicial review of the application of NEPA.”
A further provision takes aim at recently crafted federal greenhouse gas and methane emission rules by tossing aside all studies and analyses that justified them, including any by The Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases, which the order also sunsets.
The order—“Prioritizing Accuracy in Environmental Analyses"—specifically calls for doing away with “social cost of carbon” calculations that it maintains “is marked by logical deficiencies, a poor basis in empirical science, politicization, and the absence of a foundation in legislation” and that is putting the U.S. economy at a disadvantage.
The order also requires agencies to provide “estimates to assess the value of changes in greenhouse gas emissions resulting from agency actions.”
The EPA rule has been challenged and an opinion by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is expected soon. Trump could issue an executive order directing agencies not to implement the order until the court ruling. It will require legislative action, however, to bury the greenhouse gas rule.
Under the IRA, companies that emit methane beyond 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually must pay $900 per metric ton in 2024, $1,200 in 2025, and $1,500 in 2026 and beyond.
Although repealing the methane emission fee will require congressional action, the emissions charge could be eliminated in budget reconciliation under the Congressional Review Act. A Trump executive action might direct agencies not to collect the data that emitters are required to provide to verify compliance while legislation and court actions play out.
A further provision calls for “Terminating the Green New Deal.” This directive mandates that “all agencies shall immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through” the massive IRA and the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which along with the 2022 CHIPS & Science Act, are the three signature laws of Biden’s “New Green Deal.”
The provision specifically cites “defunding” authorized IRA and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocations using “funds for electric vehicle charging stations made available through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program.”
Also within the “Unleashing American Energy” executive order is a directive to lift the pause that had been placed on LNG exports. This provision directs the secretary of energy to “restart reviews of applications for approvals of liquefied natural gas export projects as expeditiously as possible.” This essentially pulls the plug on the Biden administration’s January 2024 halt in new permit reviews.
The order states that it is in the public interest when the criteria for review includes “the economic and employment impacts to the United States and the impact to the security of allies and partners that would result from granting the [export] application.”
Offshore Wind Moratorium
Another energy-related executive order signed by Trump on Jan. 20 suspends all “energy leasing in all areas within the Offshore Continental Shelf (OCS)” related to wind energy nationwide.The moratorium will remain in effect until “various alleged legal deficiencies underlying” the federal government’s wind leasing regulations for onshore and offshore wind projects are addressed.
“This withdrawal does not apply to leasing related to any other purposes such as, but not limited to, oil, gas, minerals, and environmental conservation,” the order states. A separate package of executive action calls to expand the number of leases and where leases can be sold.
Trump frequently expresses a dislike for windmills and, despite his first administration backing offshore wind ventures, he appears intent on halting proposals to develop wind power in federal waters beyond the 11 already approved. Those 11 are projected to generate more than 19 gigawatts of energy—enough to power more than 6 million homes.
National Energy Emergency Declaration
Trump’s executive order declaring a “national energy emergency” is primarily related to energy infrastructure needed to increase fuel and electricity generation and the capacity to deliver energy to meet demand.The order calls for streamlining the “identification, leasing, development, production, transportation, refining, and generation capacity of the United States.” It blames the prior administration’s policies for the shortfall in capacity that is “far too inadequate to meet our nation’s needs.”
“This active threat to the American people from high energy prices is exacerbated by our Nation’s diminished capacity to insulate itself from hostile foreign actors,” the order states.
The order requires all agency heads to “identify planned or potential actions to facilitate the nation’s energy supply that may be subject to emergency treatment” and authorizes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to coordinate in “emergency permitting provisions.”
The provision carves out undefined “emergency consultation regulations” in dealing with National Environmental Policy Act and the 51-year-old Endangered Species Act, meaning both environmental laws—long developers’ banes—will be vetted under an emergency declaration, allowing for less strict protections.
Rescissions, Regulatory Freeze
Trump’s all-encompassing “Initial Rescissions Of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions” executive order dissolves 78 of Biden’s executive actions with one pen stroke.Two address offshore oil and gas leasing, unplugging Biden executive orders that placed restrictions on offshore drilling across 625 million acres off the East and West Coasts in December and calling for a new, five-year offshore leasing plan that offers more auctions in more areas than the current Biden-adopted plan does.
Three reverse the energy-related Biden orders that provide regulatory authority for implementing many aspects of the IRA and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. One was also listed in the “Unleashing American Energy” action packet for elimination.
The action also requires agencies to “immediately withdraw” any rules that have not been finalized “so that they can be reviewed and approved” by Trump or an appointee.
The order essentially evokes the Congressional Review Act, which allows an incoming Congress and administration to suspend the finalization of rules issued within 60 days before assuming office.
Among the rules in the crosshairs are aspects of the greenhouse gas and methane regulatory programs.
