Publication
President Trump Takes Executive Actions to Address Drilling and Other Energy Reforms
Throughout his campaign, and as part of his platform, Donald J. Trump declared that should he be elected the 47th President of the United States, he would immediately sign executive actions that, among other things, would impact American energy, domestic manufacturing, innovation, and efficiency in permitting and regulations. Within hours of being sworn in as the 47th President, he issued numerous executive orders on these issues, including eight which specifically focused on: accessing natural resources, prioritizing American interests, requiring regulatory and permitting reviews and reforms, rescinding implementation of the Green New Deal, and revoking certain climate-related environmental and energy mandates, as discussed below.
“To commence the policies that will make our Nation united, fair, safe, and prosperous again, it is the policy of the United States to restore common sense to the Federal Government and unleash the potential of the American citizen. The revocations within this order will be the first of many steps the United States Federal Government will take to repair our institutions and our economy.”
This Executive Order (EO) revokes 78 executive actions issued throughout the administration of President Joseph R. Biden, including EOs 13990 & 13992, which collectively rescinded approximately 29 executive actions issued by President Trump in his first term, specific to regulatory and permitting reforms promoting energy independence and infrastructure, domestic manufacturing and mining, and the permitting of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Additionally rescinded were 17 executive actions from the Biden Administration establishing its policies on regulatory oversight, climate-related financial risk reporting, electric vehicles mandates, oil and gas leasing bans, the Climate Change Support Office, implementation of the Green New Deal, and more. The EO further directs the Administration to review all actions implementing these now retracted policies; and to “take necessary steps to rescind, replace, or amend such actions as appropriate.”
“The State of Alaska holds an abundant and largely untapped supply of natural resources including, among others, energy, mineral, timber, and seafood. Unlocking this bounty of natural wealth will raise the prosperity of our citizens while helping to enhance our Nation’s economic and national security for generations to come.”
This EO directs the Administration to “exercise all lawful authority and discretion available” to employ efficient and effective efforts in the “development and production of the natural resources located on both Federal and State lands within Alaska,” including accelerating permitting and leasing processes; and prioritizing the development, sale, and transportation of liquified natural gas.
“It is thus in the national interest to unleash America’s affordable and reliable energy and natural resources. This will restore American prosperity… It will also rebuild our Nation’s economic and military security, which will deliver peace through strength.”
This EO explicitly states that the promotion of energy exploration and production is paramount to unleashing American energy; which, according to this order, requires being a leading producer and processor of non-fuel minerals, guaranteeing an abundancy of reliable energy, abolishing the electric vehicle mandate, ensuring “that all regulatory requirements related to energy are grounded in clearly applicable law;…promote sound regulatory decision making and prioritizing the interests of the American people,” and assuring that every executive agency and department provides “opportunity for public comment and rigorous, peer-reviewed scientific analysis.”
It also instructs the Administration to immediately review their respective actions to identify which, if any, “impose an undue burden on the identification, development, or use of domestic energy resources…[and] develop and begin implementing actions to suspend, revise, or rescind all [such identified] agency actions” within 30 days. It further directs similar analyses be conducted of all agency actions “on the domestic mining and processing of non-fuel minerals and undertake steps to revise or rescind such actions,” including reassessing public lands withdrawals, updating the list of critical minerals, assessing the national security implications of mineral reliance, assessing opportunities to advance domestic mining and mineral processing, etc. It also instructs that a report be prepared with “policy recommendations to enhance the competitiveness of American mining and refining companies in other mineral-wealthy nations,” and that review of liquified natural gas export projects applications immediately resume.
Additionally, it instructs the Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) to “provide guidance on implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”)…and propose rescinding CEQ’s NEPA regulations” and directs the Administration to “undertake all available efforts to eliminate all delays within their respective permitting processes, including through, but not limited to, the use of general permitting and permit by rule.” It also instructs the National Economic Council and the Office of Legislative Affairs to jointly prepare recommendations to Congress which will “facilitate the permitting and construction of interstate energy transportation and other critical energy infrastructure…; and provide greater certainty in the Federal permitting process…” The EO emphasizes the prioritization of accuracy in environmental analyses and directs that the Administration “shall adhere to only the relevant legislated requirements for environmental considerations and any considerations beyond these requirements are eliminated.” It further instructs the Administration to, “as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, initiate a process to make such changes to any rule, regulation, policy or action as may be necessary to ensure consistency with the Regulatory Analysis.”
Finally, this EO revokes 12 EOs issued by President Biden implementing environmental justice commitments, certain climate-related provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IRA 2022”), etc., and EO 11991 issued by President Jimmy Carter amending the responsibilities of the CEQ in implementing NEPA. It terminates the American Climate Corps., disbands the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases, and the Green New Deal by requiring all agencies to immediately pause disbursement of funds distributed via the IRA 2022 and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. It also directs the Administration to “review their processes, policies, and programs for issuing grants, loans, contracts, or any other financial disbursements of such appropriated funds for consistency with the law and [this EO’s] policy.” And requires the submittal of reports within 90 days detailing the review and providing “recommendations to enhance [the Administration’s] alignment with the policy…”
“Energy security is an increasingly crucial theater of global competition. In an effort to harm the American people, hostile state and non-state foreign actors have targeted our domestic energy infrastructure, weaponized our reliance on foreign energy, and abused their ability to cause dramatic swings within international commodity markets. An affordable and reliable domestic supply of energy is a fundamental requirement for the national and economic security of any nation…Accordingly, our Nation’s dangerous energy situation inflicts unnecessary and perilous constraints on our foreign policy.”
This EO directs the Administration to identify and exercise any available lawful emergency or other authorities to “facilitate the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, and generation of domestic energy resources,” and expedite completion of infrastructure projects necessary for supplying, refining, and transporting energy. It also instructs the Administration to use the emergency regulations and permitting provisions of the Clean Water Act and other statutes administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers “to facilitate the Nation’s energy supply.” It further instructs the Administration to be readily available for interagency and interdepartmental consultation to initiate prompt and appropriate action on the application of these emergency regulations and/or permitting provisions, including those of the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”).
The EO also directs the Interior Secretary to convene the ESA Committee quarterly for conducting prompt and efficient consideration of lawfully submitted applications and establishes timelines by which each application must be reviewed and resolved. It further directs the ESA Committee to “identify obstacles to domestic energy infrastructure specifically deriving from implementation of the ESA or the Marine Mammal Protection Act, to include regulatory reform efforts, species listings and other related matters with the aim of developing procedural, regulatory, and interagency improvements.”
Additionally, the EO instructs the Administration to submit, within 30 days, reports identifying their “planned or potential actions to facilitate the Nation’s energy supply that may be subject to emergency treatment” and, until the rescission of this declaration, submit monthly updates providing the list of actions implemented, new planned or potential actions, and the status of all other actions previously reported. It further requires an assessment of the Defense Department’s ability “to acquire and transport the [necessary] energy, electricity, or fuels” required to “protect the homeland and to conduct operations abroad,” and “identify specific vulnerabilities…and recommend the requisite authorities and resources to remedy such vulnerabilities, consistent with applicable law.”
Finally, the EO clarifies that “energy” or “energy resources” means “crude oil, natural gas, lease condensates, natural gas liquids, refined petroleum products, uranium, coal, biofuels, geothermal heat, the kinetic movement of flowing water, and critical minerals, as defined by 30 U.S.C. 1606(a)(3),” and that “refining” means “the physical or chemical change of energy into a form that can be used by consumers or users, including, but not limited to, the creation of gasoline, diesel, ethanol, aviation fuel, or the beneficiation, enrichment, or purification of minerals.”
Executive Order 14162: Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements
“Over decades, with the help of sensible policies that do not encumber private-sector activity, the United States has simultaneously grown its economy, raised worker wages, increased energy production, reduced air and water pollution, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The United States’ successful track record of advancing both economic and environmental objectives should be a model for other countries.”
This EO requires that in negotiating and developing international agreements, “the interests of the United States and the American people” will take precedence; and that concessions shall “not unduly or unfairly burden the United States.” It also requires the United States’ immediate withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, and “from any agreement, pact, accord, or similar commitment made under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.” It further directs that the Administration “cease or revoke any purported financial commitment made” under the same, and revokes and rescinds the U.S. International Climate Finance Plan. Finally, it instructs the administration to “prioritize economic efficiency, the promotion of American prosperity, consumer choice, and fiscal restraint in all foreign engagements that concern energy policy” in the planning or coordinating of energy agreements.
This memorandum instructs the Administration to abstain from proposing, publishing, or implementing any rules until President Trump’s executive appointee or designee review and approve each, while exempting any rules the Office of Management and Budget “deems necessary to address emergency situations or other urgent circumstances…” It also clarifies that “rule” as applies to any substantive agency action associated with every aspect of the rulemaking process and “any agency statement of general applicability and future effect that sets forth a policy on a statutory, regulatory, or technical issue or an interpretation” thereof.
Administrative 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 memorandum temporarily withdraws of all areas within the Offshore Continental Shelf from disposition for wind energy leasing (not including existing leases), to properly consider the protection of marine life and the implications of various environmental factors. It also implements a temporary cessation, and immediate review, of federal wind leasing and permitting practices of onshore and offshore wind projects. Finally, it directs the Administration to “assess the environmental impact and cost surrounding communities of defunct and idle windmills…and recommended authorities to require the removal of such windmills.”
Administrative Order: Putting People Over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism To Provide Water To Southern California
This memorandum directs the administration to immediately restart the routing of “more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to other parts of the state” with depleted water resources for use by the people.
As the 47th President’s Inauguration Day closed, a new direction for the U.S. with respect to its environment, natural resources, and energy resources was initiated. While President Trump addressed energy independence in his first term, these eight executive actions reflect a broader approach for his second term.
Our Natural Resources team at Snell and Wilmer continues to monitor and assess the ongoing impacts of these and other actions the new Administration will have on the natural resources industry. Periodically, we will provide updates and additional information.
**Any opinions expressed are those of the authors and not the firm or their colleagues.
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