President Trump has issued a flurry of new Executive Orders and Presidential Memoranda aimed at advancing the Administration’s deregulatory agenda, particularly in the energy and environmental sectors. This advisory provides a high-level summary of these actions, including key provisions. For coverage of earlier 2025 executive actions, see our prior B&D client alert discussing Executive Orders relating to environment, energy, and natural resources. In a related development, the Administration has launched a new "Deregulation Suggestions" feature on the regulations.gov website, which allows industry stakeholders to suggest rescission of federal rules.
Protecting American Energy from State Overreach, Executive Order dated April 8, 2025:
- Directs the Attorney General to identify any state laws relevant to “climate change,” ESG initiatives, environmental justice, carbon or greenhouse gas emissions, or carbon-related taxes or penalties.
- Further states that the Attorney General shall “take all appropriate action” to stop state climate and energy-related laws and policies that may hinder domestic energy resource activities and may be "unconstitutional, preempted by federal law, or otherwise unenforceable."
- Requires a report in 60 days (from April 8, 2025) outlining actions taken and recommending further presidential or legislative measures to stop enforcement of any identified laws.
- Specifically targets state programs in California, New York, and Vermont, including cap-and-trade systems and permitting rules.
- The White House also issued an accompanying fact sheet.
Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending Executive Order 14241, Executive Order dated April 8, 2025:
- Designates coal as a “mineral” as defined in Executive Order 14241 of March 20, 2025 (“Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production”), thereby entitling coal to all of the benefits under that Order.
- Directs the Secretaries of Agriculture and Energy to assess barriers to coal mining on federal lands and propose policies to address them, including expediting coal leasing and streamlining environmental reviews.
- Requires relevant agencies to identify, revise, or rescind policies that seek to “transition the Nation away from coal production and electricity generation.”
- Directs the U.S. Departments of Energy (DOE), Interior (DOI), and Commerce to identify regions with coal-fired infrastructure suitable for AI data centers and assess the potential for coal-based infrastructure to power such data centers.
- The White House also issued an accompanying fact sheet.
Zero-Based Regulatory Budgeting to Unleash American Energy, Executive Order dated April 9, 2025:
- Requires certain federal agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), DOE, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and Army Corps of Engineers, to impose “Conditional Sunset Date(s)” to regulations related to energy production. The Executive Order states that these regulations would automatically expire and be removed from the Code of Federal Regulations unless renewed.
- Agencies are required to issue their “sunset rules” by September 30, 2025. Existing covered regulations would expire one year after the effective date of such sunset rule unless renewed. Further states that new regulations must include expiration dates not exceeding five years from their issuance.
- Affected regulations may include those under the Clean Air Act (e.g., emissions standards for power plants), appliance efficiency standards, Endangered Species Act provisions, and rules governing oil and gas leasing on federal lands.
- The Order further states that it “shall not apply to regulatory permitting regimes authorized by statute.”
- The White House issued an accompanying fact sheet.
- In line with the broader effort to implement the January 20, 2025 Executive Order 14154 (“Unleashing American Energy”), DOI issued a memorandum on April 11, 2025 to repeal Solicitor Opinion M-37065 and reinstate M-37050, concluding that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act does not prohibit the incidental or accidental killing of migratory birds.
Strengthening the Reliability and Security of the United States Electric Grid, Executive Order dated April 8, 2025:
- Issued in response to the national emergency declared in Executive Order 14156 of January 20, 2025 (“Declaring a National Energy Emergency”).
- Directs the Secretary of Energy to expedite processes for issuing emergency orders under the Federal Power Act during periods of forecasted temporary grid interruptions to prevent complete grid failure.
- Demands the development of a uniform methodology to analyze current and anticipated electric grid reserve margins and to identify regions with reserve margins below acceptable thresholds.
- The White House issued an accompanying fact sheet.
Reducing Anti-Competitive Regulatory Barriers, Executive Order dated April 9, 2025:
- Directs agency heads, in coordination with the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission and the Attorney General, to identify and report regulations that restrict competition, create monopolies, or otherwise produce anti-competitive effects.
- Within 70 days, agencies must submit recommendations for rescission or modification of such regulations, and for the same to be placed on the Unified Regulatory Agenda created under Executive Order 14129 of February 19, 2025 (“Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” Deregulatory Initiative”).
- The White House issued an accompanying fact sheet.
Directing The Repeal of Unlawful Regulations, Presidential Memorandum dated April 9, 2025:
- Instructs agencies to repeal “facially unlawful regulations” without undergoing the public notice-and-comment process, including by invoking the “good cause” exception of the Administrative Procedure Act.
- Targets regulations deemed to conflict with ten specific Supreme Court decisions, including Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (2024) and West Virginia v. EPA (2022).
- Requires agencies to immediately take steps to effectuate the repeal of regulations identified as “unlawful and potentially unlawful” following the 60-day review period initiated under Executive Order 14219, dated February 19, 2025 (“Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Deregulatory Initiative”).
- An additional executive order, Maintaining Acceptable Water Pressure In Showerheads, dated April 9, 2025, states that notice-and-comment and NEPA procedures are unnecessary due to the direct presidential order to repeal. It directs the Secretary of Energy to rescind the 2021 regulation defining "showerhead" (86 Fed. Reg. 71797) within 30 days of publication.
- The White House also issued an accompanying fact sheet.
Regulatory Relief for Certain Stationary Sources to Promote American Energy, Presidential Proclamation dated April 8, 2025:
- Grants a two-year exemption, pursuant to Clean Air Act Section 112(i)(4), from compliance with EPA’s amended Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule for certain coal-fired power plants.
- The exemption period begins July 8, 2027, and defers compliance to July 8, 2029, during which the affected sources remain subject to the MATS that existed prior to the amended rule.
- States that issuing the exemption is in the “national security interest” to guard against potential disruptions to the nation’s electricity and energy supplies and also highlights the current unavailability of commercially viable emissions control technology.
- This action marks the first use of Section 112(i)(4), which permits exemptions from Section 112 emission standards for stationary sources if deemed necessary for national security interests and the technology to implement the rule is not available.
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