On his first day in office, US President Donald Trump signed a number of executive orders and memoranda reversing many of his predecessor’s climate policies and launching a promised transformation of the nation’s environmental regulatory landscape. As expected, the second Trump administration’s initial orders on environmental policy are marked by federal actions that scale back restrictions on fossil fuel energy production, limit offshore wind projects, and open federal lands to increased oil and gas activities.
While the administration’s policy will continue to develop through agency actions and litigation, the initial flurry of presidential actions signals an aggressive approach to increasing fossil energy production and easing environmental permitting requirements and regulations that restrict production.
NATIONAL ENERGY EMERGENCY
Drawing authority from the National Emergencies Act, the executive order Declaring a National Energy Emergency empowers agency heads to grant emergency approvals for projects aimed at spurring domestic energy production.
The energy emergency executive order directs executive departments and agencies to exercise any emergency authorities available to them to facilitate the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, and generation of domestic energy resources on and off federal lands. It also opens the door for use of either federal eminent domain authorities or authorities under the Defense Production Act to achieve this objective. In the same vein, the order urges the use of emergency powers to expedite already authorized and appropriated infrastructure, energy, environmental, and natural resources projects.
The executive order also seeks to ease restrictions imposed by requirements under the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act, ordering agencies to consult on exemptions from certain requirements under the Endangered Species Act and identify actions that may merit emergency permitting under the Clean Water Act.
The order also directs the loosening of regulations around the sale of gasoline with 15% ethanol, ordering the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator and Secretary of Energy to consider using emergency fuel waivers to allow the year-round sale of higher-ethanol gasoline.
DEREGULATING THE ENERGY INDUSTRY
The Unleashing American Energy executive order adopts an aggressive energy production policy. It directs an immediate review of agency activities that “potentially burden” the development of domestic energy sources, including natural gas, coal, hydropower, biofuels, critical minerals, and nuclear energy. It also sets a one-month deadline for agencies to submit action plans to reconsider or revise past rules that are deemed by the new administration as hindrances to domestic energy development.
The order also revokes a slew of Biden-era executive orders related to clean energy and environmental justice initiatives, effectively eliminating offices created under these actions:
- Executive Order 13990 of January 20, 2021 (Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis)
- Executive Order 14008 of January 27, 2021 (Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad)
- Executive Order 14037 of August 5, 2021 (Strengthening American Leadership in Clean Cars and Trucks)
- Executive Order 14082 of September 12, 2022 (Implementation of the Energy and Infrastructure Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022)
- Executive Order 14096 of April 21, 2023 (Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All)
The order also directs an immediate pause on the disbursement of certain funds from the Inflation Reduction Act, which heavily subsidizes clean energy initiatives.
REOPENING THE ALASKAN WILDERNESS TO OIL AND GAS
An Alaska-centered executive order, Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential, returns the federal government to the posture it had during the first Trump administration by directing agencies to rescind or revise environmental regulations that limit resource development in the state. The order’s expressed goal is for the United States to “fully avail” itself of Alaska’s lands and natural resources.
The order issues a broad mandate to agency heads to rescind, revoke, revise, or grant exemptions to regulations promulgated during the Biden administration. It also mandates the Secretary of the Interior to withdraw, rescind, or pause certain agency actions, effectively reopening large swathes of the state—including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the National Petroleum Reserve, and the Tongass National Forest—to oil and gas activities. This includes the reinstatement of certain leases, rescinding the rejection of the 200-mile Ambler Access Road project, and repealing the “Roadless Rule.”
The order would also advance the Alaska LNG Project through the permitting of necessary pipelines and export infrastructure and the domestic and international sale and transportation of Alaskan LNG.
LIMITING OFFSHORE WIND
In a memorandum issued to the Attorney General, the EPA Administrator, and the secretaries of the Treasury, the Interior, Agriculture, and Energy, President Trump ordered a halt on offshore wind leasing on the Outer Continental Shelf as well as the review of the federal government’s wind leasing and permitting practices. The memorandum does not impact existing leases in the withdrawn areas but does direct the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Attorney General as needed, to conduct a comprehensive review of such leases to determine if they must be terminated or amended.
Read our LawFlash dedicated to offshore wind limitations.
CALIFORNIA WATER SUPPLY
President Trump signed a memorandum to the Secretary of Commerce and Secretary of the Interior to lead the restart of a National Marine Fisheries Service initiative under the first Trump administration that would increase the amount of water routed from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to other parts of California. The memorandum does not provide specific guidelines regarding the amount of water, but rather orders the Secretaries of Commerce and the Interior to report on the implementation of the memorandum and provide any recommendations.
INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE AGREEMENTS
President Trump issued executive order Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements, withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement and all other international climate agreements. It also withdraws the United States from any financial commitments made to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
IMPLICATIONS
The Trump administration’s initial executive orders are generally consistent with the previous Trump administration’s approach to fossil fuel energy and environmental regulation, but they are even more ambitious in scope. They are also highly detailed, containing specific policy items ranging from limits on offshore wind to authorization for gasoline with higher blends of ethanol.
One such policy that may be particularly consequential is the administration’s directive for the Council on Environmental Quality to consider rescinding National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations; when combined with the DC Circuit’s recent ruling in Marin Audubon Society, it could eliminate regulations that have for years informed how project developers and agencies have conducted NEPA reviews.
Much of the ultimate impacts of these executive orders and memoranda will depend on how they are implemented by agencies. The Trump administration’s orders direct agencies to perform a number of tasks, including considering rescinding existing regulations, issuing various reports on priorities, and taking other actions within their authority.
When such agency actions are finalized, they are highly likely to be challenged in court, which has the potential to delay or prevent some of those actions from taking effect. The country’s environmental policy will also be increasingly affected by actions taken by state and local actors in areas in which the administration has deregulated or chosen not to act.
Nonetheless, this initial set of executive actions is noteworthy as both a signal of the Trump administration’s overall approach to energy and the environment and its views on some specific policies. Taken together, the executive actions indicate strong support for fossil energy development and a desire to reduce environmental regulations and expedite environmental reviews.
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