Energy & Environment
Presidential Executive Orders
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January 20, 2025 (W.H. Link) - The executive order declares a national emergency to address the United States' inadequate energy supply and infrastructure, citing risks to national security, economic stability, and global competitiveness. To address these issues, federal agencies are directed to utilize emergency authorities to expedite energy production, transportation, refining, and infrastructure development, including on federal lands.
The order invokes provisions of the Defense Production Act and eminent domain to facilitate energy projects and mitigate disruptions. It also directs agencies to prioritize energy security in key regions, such as the Northeast and West Coast, and authorizes emergency measures, including fuel waivers and expedited permitting processes under environmental laws like the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act.
The order mandates coordinated efforts across federal agencies to ensure the protection and expansion of energy resources. This includes assessments of vulnerabilities in energy transportation and refining infrastructure, particularly for defense purposes, and the invocation of military construction authorities to address identified gaps. Agencies are required to provide regular reports on their actions, progress, and new initiatives to enhance energy security.
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January 20, 2025 (W.H. Link) - The memorandum criticizes the Biden Administration for policies it claims caused historic inflation, including excessive government spending, overregulation, and energy restrictions that raised costs for fuel, food, housing, and other essentials. It highlights regulatory burdens that allegedly increased housing prices and vehicle costs, particularly through mandates favoring electric vehicles.
To address these issues, the memorandum directs executive departments and agencies to deliver emergency price relief and improve prosperity by:
Lowering housing costs and expanding supply.
Reducing healthcare costs by eliminating unnecessary expenses.
Removing counterproductive regulations on home appliances.
Increasing employment opportunities.
Eliminating climate policies that raise food and fuel costs.
The Assistant to the President for Economic Policy must report on progress within 30 days and continue reporting monthly.
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January 20, 2025 (W.H. Link) - The executive order withdraws the United States from the Paris Agreement. It emphasizes balancing economic growth and environmental protection while prioritizing American interests. The order asserts that the United States has historically achieved economic and environmental goals without undue restrictions on the private sector and aims to make this approach a model for other nations. The order critiques international agreements for imposing burdens on the U.S. economy and directing taxpayer funds to countries that do not merit financial assistance.
The order also rescinds the U.S. International Climate Finance Plan and halts any financial commitments made under these agreements. Federal departments and agencies are tasked with revoking policies associated with the climate finance plan and ensuring future international energy agreements prioritize economic efficiency, American prosperity, and fiscal restraint.
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January 20, 2025 (W.H. Link) - The order stipulates that it is United States policy to fully utilize Alaska's abundant natural resources. This policy focuses on maximizing efficient development of resources on both federal and state lands, expediting the permitting and leasing processes for energy and natural resource projects, and prioritizing the advancement of Alaska's liquified natural gas (LNG) potential. Emphasis is placed on facilitating LNG sales and transportation to domestic and allied markets in the Pacific region.
General Actions for All Agencies
Rescind or Amend Restrictive Policies: Agencies must review and rescind regulations, orders, and guidance inconsistent with the outlined policy goals, focusing on rules adopted between January 20, 2021, and January 20, 2025.
Prioritize LNG Development: Agencies must expedite the permitting and infrastructure development for Alaska's liquified natural gas (LNG) projects, emphasizing their economic and national security benefits.
Department of the Interior
Reverse Key Restrictions: The Secretary of the Interior must:
Withdraw Secretarial Order 3401, which halted activities in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Rescind cancellations of leases in the refuge and restart the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program, issuing necessary permits for exploration and production.
Reinstate prior environmental impact statements and records of decision supporting resource development.
Review Land and Development Policies:
Evaluate and potentially rescind Public Land Order 5150 and subsequent amendments.
Review the Ambler Road project decision, reinstate favorable rulings, and analyze any deficiencies in the permitting process.
Reassess management rules for the National Petroleum Reserve and revoke guidance on subsistence resource protections inconsistent with development priorities.
Enhance Infrastructure: Expedite road development between King Cove and Cold Bay’s all-weather airport.
Consider Cultural and Legal Priorities: Conduct reviews of public land orders impacting Alaska Native Corporations, waterways, and hunting/fishing rights while ensuring subsistence management aligns with state practices.
Energy Corridor Viability: Collaborate with the Department of Defense to secure the Trans-Alaska Pipeline as a critical energy corridor and assess resources for energy export.
Department of Agriculture
Place a moratorium on activities under recent roadless conservation rules in Alaska’s National Forest System, reinstating previous rules favoring resource access and development.
Conduct a comprehensive review of environmental and legal deficiencies in the affected decisions.
Department of the Army
Assist Alaska’s governor with transportation infrastructure maintenance and clearing, ensuring timely approval through the Department of Defense and relevant agencies.
Review and revise actions that could delay critical infrastructure projects in Alaska.
Department of Commerce
Collaborate with the Department of the Interior to review, revise, or rescind actions that hinder critical projects in Alaska, ensuring alignment with national policy goals.
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January 20, 2025 (W.H. Link) - The order emphasizes the importance of U.S. energy and natural resources for economic growth and national security, highlighting how past regulations have hindered development. It asserts that unleashing these resources will restore prosperity, create jobs, reduce energy costs, and strengthen military preparedness.
The order specifies what activities are key energy priorities of the Trump Administration. These include:
Encouraging energy exploration on federal lands and waters.
Establishing U.S. dominance in rare earth mineral production to bolster supply chains and reduce reliance on adversarial states.
Eliminating regulatory mandates favoring electric vehicles (EVs) and promoting consumer choice.
Ensuring access to affordable goods and appliances while fostering market competition.
Requiring transparent evaluations of global versus domestic impacts of regulations.
Prioritizing public comment, rigorous scientific analysis, and adherence to applicable laws.
Within 30 days of the date of the order, the head of each agency shall develop and implement action plans to suspend, revise, or rescind all agency actions identified as unduly burdensome to the identification, development, or use of domestic energy resources — with particular attention to oil, natural gas, coal, hydropower, biofuels, critical mineral, and nuclear energy resources.
The order also revokes the following executive orders:
Executive Order 11991 of May 24, 1977 (Relating to Protection and Enhancement of Environmental Quality)
Executive Order 13990 of January 20, 2021 (Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis);
Executive Order 13992 of January 20, 2021 (Revocation of Certain Executive Orders Concerning Federal Regulation);
Executive Order 14008 of January 27, 2021 (Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad);
Executive Order 14007 of January 27, 2021 (President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology);
Executive Order 14013 of February 4, 2021 (Rebuilding and Enhancing Programs to Resettle Refugees and Planning for the Impact of Climate Change on Migration);
Executive Order 14027 of May 7, 2021 (Establishment of the Climate Change Support Office);
Executive Order 14030 of May 20, 2021 (Climate-Related Financial Risk);
Executive Order 14037 of August 5, 2021 (Strengthening American Leadership in Clean Cars and Trucks);
Executive Order 14057 of December 8, 2021 (Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability);
Executive Order 14072 of April 22, 2022 (Strengthening the Nation’s Forests, Communities, and Local Economies);
Executive Order 14082 of September 12, 2022 (Implementation of the Energy and Infrastructure Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022); and
Executive Order 14096 of April 21, 2023 (Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All).
The order requires that all activities and operations associated with the American Climate Corps shall be terminated immediately.
Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) shall provide guidance on implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq., and propose rescinding CEQ’s NEPA regulations found at 40 CFR 1500 et seq.
The CEQ is further instructed to convene a working group to coordinate the revision of agency-level regulations for the purpose of expediting permitting approvals and meeting deadlines established in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (Public Law 118-5).
The Directors of the NEC and Office of Legislative Affairs are tasked with preparing recommendations to Congress to expedite the permitting and construction of critical energy infrastructure, such as pipelines, especially in underdeveloped regions, and to streamline federal permitting processes, including judicial reviews under NEPA.
Section 6 of this order is very detailed and deserves specific summation of each subsection. This portion focuses on:
Focus on Legislated Environmental Requirements (Subsection a):
Agencies must adhere strictly to legislated environmental requirements in federal permitting and regulatory processes.
Non-statutory or ideologically motivated considerations are to be eliminated.
Agencies are required to employ only the most robust and scientifically credible methodologies, rejecting arbitrary or politicized assessment methods.
Disbanding the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases (Subsection b):
The Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases (IWG), established under Executive Order 13990, is dissolved.
All guidance, documents, and recommendations issued by the IWG are withdrawn and no longer represent governmental policy, including:
The 2021 Presidential Memorandum on evidence-based policymaking.
The 2023 Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Report.
The 2021 Technical Support Document on interim estimates for the social cost of greenhouse gases.
Any estimates for the social cost of carbon, methane, or nitrous oxide derived from the IWG’s work.
Criticism and Review of the Social Cost of Carbon (Subsection c):
The "social cost of carbon" is criticized for being scientifically unsound, politically biased, and lacking legislative foundation.
Its use is deemed to hinder regulatory decisions, harm U.S. economic competitiveness, and inadvertently increase global environmental harm by empowering less efficient foreign energy producers.
Within 60 days, the EPA Administrator must issue guidance addressing these deficiencies, including potentially removing the "social cost of carbon" from federal permitting and regulatory decisions.
Interim Guidance for Greenhouse Gas Emission Estimates (Subsection d):
Until new EPA guidance is issued, agencies must ensure that estimates of greenhouse gas emissions:
Distinguish between domestic and international impacts.
Use appropriate discount rates for cost-benefit analyses.
Align with the OMB Circular A-4 standards for regulatory analysis.
Agency Compliance with Regulatory Analysis (Subsection e):
Agencies must review and revise rules, regulations, and policies to ensure they conform to the OMB Circular A-4 framework.
Changes should address any inconsistencies with the order’s emphasis on scientific rigor and legislative alignment.
Review of Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Findings (Subsection f):
Within 30 days, the EPA Administrator, in collaboration with other relevant agencies, must submit recommendations to the OMB Director on the legality and continued relevance of the 2009 Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases under the Clean Air Act.
The order further instructs all agencies to pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-169) or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58). This includes 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. No funds can be distributed until a report (due within 90 days) is submitted detailing how future awards can be made in adherence with energy policy priorities of the Trump Administration.
The order further instructs the Energy Secretary to restart reviews of LNG export applications.
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January 20, 2025 (W.H. Link) - This Presidential Memorandum temporarily withdraws all areas of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) from consideration for wind energy leasing starting January 21, 2025, until the memorandum is revoked. This withdrawal applies exclusively to wind energy projects, excluding other uses such as oil, gas, minerals, and environmental conservation. Existing wind energy leases are not affected immediately, but the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Attorney General, will conduct a comprehensive review of these leases, focusing on their ecological, economic, and environmental impacts, and recommend potential amendments or terminations.
Additionally, the memorandum calls for a temporary halt on new or renewed approvals, permits, leases, or loans for both onshore and offshore wind projects until a thorough review of federal wind leasing and permitting practices is completed. This review, led by the Secretary of the Interior and involving multiple federal agencies, will assess the environmental, economic, and security impacts of wind energy projects, including their effects on wildlife, navigational safety, and the reliability of energy generation.
A specific moratorium is placed on activities related to the Lava Ridge Wind Project due to alleged legal deficiencies and public interest concerns. The Secretary of the Interior is tasked with conducting a comprehensive reevaluation of the project’s environmental and community impacts. Furthermore, the memorandum directs an assessment of defunct or idle windmills' environmental and economic impacts, with recommendations on their removal.
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January 20, 2025 (W.H. Link) - The directive orders the Secretary of Commerce and Secretary of the Interior to immediately resume efforts from the previous administration to redirect water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to other regions of California for reliable water access. The plan, initially halted by a lawsuit from California's state government, aimed to redirect Northern California's snowmelt and rainwater to benefit the Central Valley and Southern California. The halt was justified by concerns over species protection, like the Delta smelt, but the water currently flows unused into the Pacific Ocean. The directive highlights the recent destructive wildfires in Southern California as evidence of the urgent need for water supply and vegetation management. A progress report and recommendations for further implementation are required within 90 days.
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January 20, 2025 (W.H. Link) - The order asserts that the previous administration implemented unpopular and harmful practices, including embedding "diversity, equity, and inclusion" (DEI) into Federal institutions, which it claims undermines merit and equality. It criticizes open border policies for straining resources and climate policies for driving inflation and overregulation. Relevant executive orders revoked include:
Executive Order 14037 of August 5, 2021 (Strengthening American Leadership in Clean Cars and Trucks).
Executive Order 14057 of December 8, 2021 (Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability).
Executive Order 14082 of September 12, 2022 (Implementation of the Energy and Infrastructure Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022).
The Presidential Memorandum of March 13, 2023 (Withdrawal of Certain Areas off the United States Arctic Coast of the Outer Continental Shelf from Oil or Gas Leasing).
Executive Order 14096 of April 21, 2023 (Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All).
The Presidential Memorandum of January 3, 2025 (Designation of Officials of the Council on Environmental Quality to Act as Chairman).
The Presidential Memorandum of January 6, 2025 (Withdrawal of Certain Areas of the United States Outer Continental Shelf from Oil or Natural Gas Leasing).
The order mandates the immediate termination of Federal implementation of "unlawful and radical DEI ideology" by agency heads (SEE RELATED EXECUTIVE ORDER). It further directs the Directors of the Domestic Policy Council (DPC) and National Economic Council (NEC) to review actions taken under previous administration directives, recommending within 45 days which should be rescinded, replaced, or amended to "enhance American prosperity." Additionally, the National Security Advisor (NSA) must review all National Security Memoranda (NSMs) issued between January 20, 2021, and January 20, 2025, to identify any harm to national security, domestic resilience, or American values, and provide recommendations for rescission within the same timeframe.
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January 24, 2025(W.H. Link) - The executive order addresses the devastating wildfire crisis in Southern California, particularly in Los Angeles, where raging fires have caused significant loss of life, property, and infrastructure. The order sets forth a national policy to provide Southern California with the necessary water resources and support for firefighting efforts, despite conflicting state or local policies. Key federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, Department of the Interior, and Department of Commerce, are tasked with ensuring adequate water resources, overriding policies that hinder water delivery, and coordinating responses to maximize water supply. Additionally, the order outlines actions to address California’s mismanagement of water resources and improve disaster preparedness. The federal government is also committed to aiding displaced families by providing housing, expediting waste removal, and ensuring effective use of federal grants for fire preparedness. The order extends similar support for North Carolina families affected by Hurricane Helene. The goal is to accelerate recovery, rebuild infrastructure, and ensure long-term resilience against future disasters.
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February 10, 2025 (W.H. Link) - This executive order establishes a federal policy against the use of paper straws, citing concerns over their functionality, cost, potential health risks, and environmental contradictions, such as being individually wrapped in plastic. It argues that bans on plastic straws have led to ineffective alternatives and asserts that the United States will work to reverse this trend.
To implement this policy, the order directs federal agencies to eliminate paper straw procurement and remove policies that disfavor plastic straws, including those established under a now-revoked 2021 executive order on federal sustainability. Within 45 days, the administration will develop a National Strategy to End the Use of Paper Straws, addressing executive branch policies, state-level contracts, and other measures to promote plastic straws nationwide. The order clarifies that its implementation must align with existing laws and budgets and does not create new legal rights or obligations.
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February 14th, 2025 (W.H. Link) - This executive order establishes the policy of making America "energy dominant" by leveraging the nation's abundant natural resources and technological advancements. It aims to reduce reliance on foreign energy imports, boost economic growth, create jobs, and strengthen national security. To achieve this, the order creates the National Energy Dominance Council, chaired by the Secretary of the Interior and comprising key federal officials. The Council is tasked with advising the President on increasing energy production, streamlining regulations, improving infrastructure, and fostering private-sector investments in energy development.
The Council must develop a National Energy Dominance Strategy within 100 days, identifying ways to expand energy production across all sectors—including oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear, biofuels, and renewables—while reducing regulatory barriers and improving efficiency. The order emphasizes increasing electricity capacity, approving new infrastructure projects such as pipelines and power plants, and incentivizing energy investment. Additionally, the Secretary of the Interior will serve as a standing member of the National Security Council to ensure energy policy aligns with national security interests. The order underscores the administration’s commitment to strengthening America's energy sector as a pillar of economic and geopolitical strategy.