Trump-Vance Administration Issues Executive Order to Promote American Energy (original) (raw)

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Donald J. Trump became the 47th president of the United States on January 20. His second inaugural address focused significantly on energy policy, where he promised to declare a national energy emergency. Making America “energy dominant again” is the second of his four America First Priorities. President Trump’s energy policy aims to meet two of his goals: reducing energy costs as part of his plan to “defeat what was record inflation and rapidly bring down costs and prices” and restoring American manufacturing.

The president’s inaugural remarks indicate renewed support for the oil, gas, and nuclear industries, and signaled an end to federal government preferences for resources such as offshore wind. He promised to tap into American gas and oil to spur economic growth and to promote American manufacturing.

President Trump further expressed an intent to export American energy all over the world and to refill strategic petroleum reserves, which have been depleted in the last few years to their lowest level in decades. Additionally, the incoming administration promised to streamline energy infrastructure permitting and use the energy emergency declaration to build critical infrastructure. President Trump also indicated that he would end the prior administration’s decarbonization policies, revoke the electric vehicle mandate, identify and rescind regulations imposing undue burdens on energy production and use, end leasing of government land to wind farms, and re-withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord.

On the first day of his second administration, President Trump signed the following executive orders pertinent to US energy policy:

Initial Recissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions

This order revokes several executive orders issued by former President Joseph R. Biden, including the following orders regarding the prior administration’s energy and policy agenda:

Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements

This order aims to promote the US economy while continuing the nation’s leadership role in protecting the environment. As pertinent to energy policy, the order immediately withdraws the United States from the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and any similar commitment made under this Framework. The order also revokes the US International Climate Finance Plan. Further, agencies that plan or coordinate international energy agreements must prioritize economic efficiency, American prosperity, consumer choice, and fiscal restraint in such agreements.

Unleashing American Energy

This order encourages energy exploration on federal lands and waters and aims to establish the United States as a leader in nonfuel minerals. The order:

Declaring a National Energy Emergency

This order declares the supply of energy and critical minerals and associated infrastructure to be inadequate and a cause of high energy prices. The order:

Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects

This order withdraws from disposition for wind energy leasing all areas within the Outer Continental Shelf, thereby preventing any new or renewed wind energy leases on the Outer Continental Shelf. The order also requires an immediate review of Federal Wind Leasing and Permitting Practices, to include an assessment of offshore wind on marine mammals and other wildlife, and the economic costs of intermittent electric generation and subsidies on the viability of the industry.

Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential

This order finds that Alaska “holds an abundant and largely untapped supply of natural resources,” including energy resources, and makes it government policy to maximize the development of these resources, such as by expediting permitting of energy projects and leasing of land for energy extraction. The order:

Return to In-Person Work

This order requires all federal workers, including those working at energy regulatory agencies, to return to in-person work on a full-time basis.

Regulatory Freeze Pending Review

This order prevents agencies from issuing any new rule until reviewed by an incoming administration official, and requires the withdrawal of any rule not yet published in the Federal Register until reviewed by an incoming administration official.

Delivering Emergency Price Relief for American Families and Defeating the Cost-of-Living Crisis

This order directs federal agencies to “deliver emergency price relief . . . and increase prosperity of the American worker,” in part by “eliminat[ing] harmful, coercive ‘climate’ policies that increase the costs of food and fuel.”

INITIAL MAJOR PERSONNEL ACTIONS

President Trump announced the following nominations, appointments, and designations pertinent to agencies affecting US energy policy:

Cabinet-Level Nominations, Cabinet Designations, and Sub-Cabinet Appointments

Designations of Chairman

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We expect additional executive, regulatory, and legislative action in the next few days and months to implement President Trump’s energy policy. We will provide additional analysis and guidance as these policies are being formed and once implemented. Please visit Morgan Lewis’s energy blogs Power & Pipes (FERC, CFTC, DOE, State), Up and Atom (Nuclear), our Trump-Vance Administration Policies and Priorities resource center, and our subscriptions page for updates on the Trump-Vance administration’s energy policies or contact Juliana Israel to be added to Morgan Lewis’s energy and project development distribution list.