Key Takeaways
- Many of the executive orders signed by President Donald Trump reinstate policies that were pursued during his first term; among them are increased support for the fossil fuel industry and a rollback of regulations seeking to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
- Regulated industry should anticipate delays in actions taken by executive agencies and departments due to several executive agency and department freezes, including the removal of diversity, equity and inclusion (“DEI”) staff throughout the federal government, which indicates a wholesale rollback of the Biden administration’s environmental justice initiative.
- Trump’s declaration of an energy emergency commands a whole-of-government approach to elevating domestic energy production; regulated industry can expect expedited permitting and regulatory rollbacks.
- Climate change efforts will be reduced by the U.S. withdrawal from international and domestic initiatives and agreements; further, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) must review the legality and applicability of its 2009 greenhouse gas endangerment finding under the Clean Air Act.
Within hours of his inauguration on January 20, 2025, Trump signed 26 executive orders, several of which directly altered United States environmental policy. From climate change to wind energy leases, the changes in policy will have an effect on a broad cross-section of stakeholders. Trump’s actions largely reflect those taken during his first administration. This includes a withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords, rolling back the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, rescinding Alaskan environmental protections, and scaling back restrictions on fossil fuel energy production.
This alert memo will break down the agency directives within the orders, how those changes might be implemented, and what regulated industry can do to prepare and respond.
Executive Agency Overhaul
Trump issued a series of executive orders with the intent of overhauling executive agencies. These orders require a regulatory freeze, a reclassification of government employees and a hiring freeze for executive branch agencies. The overhaul is likely to cause delay by pending actions, reviews and other agency actions for an additional two to three months.
The executive order issuing a regulatory freeze paused for review rules that have been submitted to the Federal Register but have not yet been published.[1] It may also delay the effective date of rules that have already been published in the Federal Register but have not yet taken effect. All executive departments and agencies are prohibited from proposing or issuing any new rule until a department or agency head appointed by Trump reviews and approves the rule.
Reverting to policy in Trump’s first term, thousands of federal civil service positions in “policy- influencing” roles have been reclassified as “at-will” employees.[2] The policy is intended to make it easier for the administration to replace employees with Trump-loyal workers. Individual employees whose positions are reclassified are permitted to challenge the change. The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents 150,000 federal employees at 37 federal agencies, sued on Monday to block the order.[3] Significant attrition is expected from the reclassification and the end of federal remote work policies.[4] This anticipated reduction in workforce, combined with the mandated hiring freeze,[5] is expected to cause delays in agency action.
National Energy Emergency
Pursuant to the National Emergencies Act, Trump declared a national energy emergency, finding the current domestic energy production capacity of the United States to be “far too inadequate.”[6] The order requests the heads of executive departments and agencies to work toward generating domestic energy resources, including on federal lands, and to begin immediate review of policies posing “obstacles to energy development.” The order also opens the door for the use of federal eminent domain authority or the use of the Defense Production Act to achieve energy goals. This includes a provision that would allow the EPA to use emergency fuel waivers allowing the year-round sale of gasoline with 15 percent ethanol.
This executive order will allow the administration to expedite permitting for energy infrastructure projects. This will be achieved, in part, by restricting requirements under the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act.[7]
Climate Change
Trump signed an executive order requiring the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to provide notice that the United States is withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accords.[8] The order also revokes all financial commitments made by the United States and the International Climate Finance Plan. Trump also issued actions pulling back on climate efforts domestically. In a presidential memorandum, Trump directed the heads of all executive departments and agencies to deliver emergency price relief by eliminating climate policies that increase the cost of consumer goods.[9]
To underscore the incoming administration’s distancing from climate change efforts, Trump revoked Executive Order 14008, which declared a policy of working against the impacts of climate change by working with other countries to create a sustainable climate pathway,[10] and Executive Order 14027, which established the Climate Change Support Office within the Department of State.[11]
Perhaps the most significant impact on industry with respect to climate change is the requirement that the EPA submit a report on the “legality and continuing applicability” of its 2009 endangerment finding for greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.[12] The finding provided the basis upon which the EPA regulated greenhouse gas emissions from both stationary and mobile sources. During the previous Trump administration, the EPA considered and rejected a petition to reconsider the endangerment finding. If the EPA were to change its position on the greenhouse gas endangerment finding, significant litigation would follow.
Further, the EPA will also be required to issue guidance on the “social cost of carbon,” and whether such guidance should be eliminated.[13] This metric is used by agencies to quantify the climate impact of regulations and permitting. It is an estimate of the cost, in dollars, of each additional ton of carbon emissions. Under the Biden administration, the value of the social cost of carbon was increased. The metric has been used to determine federal fuel economy standards and some state electric utility company actions.
Oil and Gas
For decades, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (“ANWR”) has faced political whiplash between its lands being protected as one of the last untouched spaces on earth and being opened to the oil and gas industry for drilling. ANWR’s 19.6 million acres are at the heart of one executive order that seeks to “expedite the permitting and leasing of energy and natural resource projects” in Alaska.[14] Trump also revoked protections for the Beaufort Planning Area of the Outer Continental Shelf[15] and the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area.[16] These regions, off the Alaskan coast and reaching to the outer continental shelf (“OCS”), were part of a separate order revoking all wind energy leases on the OCS, with a noted exception for oil and gas. Significant litigation challenging development of these areas is anticipated.
In addition to opening the doors to additional oil and gas projects, the Trump administration has also restarted the review of applications for approvals of liquefied natural gas export projects.[17] In response, the Department of Energy, which had previously published a multi-volume analysis of selected issues concerning liquefied natural gas, has extended the comment period on that analysis to March 20th. Given the reversal in policy, this extended comment period will benefit regulated industry that wants to ensure any granted applications are not overturned in courts for lack of thorough review and consideration.
Critical Mineral Development
Trump’s executive orders also boost the domestic mining and refining of critical minerals. One order instructs agencies to identify and revise or rescind regulations that impose an undue burden on domestic mining of critical minerals.[18] Further, the order instructs the director of the United States Geological Survey to consider listing uranium as a critical mineral. The Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture will reassess any potential public lands withdrawals for potential revision. There is also the potential of federal support for critical mineral projects. The United States trade representative and the Secretary of Commerce have been tasked with looking at overseas critical mineral projects to see if they are unlawful or if they unduly burden or restrict U.S. commerce, and to examine the national security implications of America’s mineral reliance and the potential for trade actions. Further minerals were listed among the abundant and untapped supply of natural resources justifying opening Alaska to more energy projects.
Wind Energy
A memorandum issued by Trump withdraws wind energy leasing from all areas within the OCS as of January 21, 2025.[19] This action prevents consideration of any area in the OCS for any new or renewed wind energy leasing for the purposes of generation of electricity. The Department of Interior must complete a comprehensive review of offshore wind leases to determine whether to terminate or amend existing wind energy leases. The leasing halt will delay the development of new wind projects along the coast. One region poised for investments in such projects was the Gulf of Mexico. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced plans in 2023 for the first offshore wind lease sale for three areas in the Gulf, two near Galveston, Texas, and one offshore of Lake Charles, Louisiana. On December 12, 2024, the Bureau announced a Determination of Competitive Interest in two of these areas.[20]
Electric Vehicles and Mobile Source Emissions
The first Trump administration rolled back existing mobile source emission standards, targeting those regulating greenhouse gas emissions. Upon taking office, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14037, which required the Secretary of Transportation and the EPA to establish more stringent multi-pollutant emissions standards.[21] As a result, the EPA issued a final rule revising MY 2023 and later greenhouse gas emissions standards for light-duty vehicles. It then moved forward finalizing federal mobile source emissions standards for MY 2026 and later. Trump has since revoked the Biden executive order, and Trump’s order seeks to eliminate the most recent mobile source emissions standards and the recent waivers granted to California. Litigation is already pending over both the federal standards and California’s waiver. We anticipate the Trump administration following its actions during the first term and working to roll back the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from mobile sources. This will need to be done through a rulemaking and could take from several months to in excess of a year to be achieved. Even so, this will be another example of the regulatory whiplash experienced by the automotive industry, which seeks regulatory harmonization and stability.
Changes to the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Act
Trump’s executive order on energy calls for an immediate halt to the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (Pub. L. 117-169) and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act (Pub. Law 117-58).[22] Specifically, the order specifies that funds for electric vehicle charging stations are to be immediately paused. All agencies are required to review their processes, policies and programs for issuing grants, loans, contracts and any other financial disbursements of such appropriated funds. This is likely to include the electric vehicle tax credit. No funds can be disbursed until the director of OMB and the Assistant to the President of Economic Policy have given approval. A halt in funding on both the infrastructure and consumer sides of the electric vehicle market will cause significant disruption to the forward planning already conducted and relied upon by the automotive industry. A full revocation of the credits, because they appear in statute, would require congressional action.
NEPA Policy
One policy that could have a significant impact on regulated industry is the directive for the Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) to provide guidance on implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) and to propose rescinding NEPA’s regulations.[23] With a review of this directive in light of Trump’s rescission of Executive Order 11991,[24] initially empowering CEQ to issue regulations, and the ruling in Marin Audubon Society,[25] in which the D.C. Circuit stated in dicta that the CEQ lacked the authority to issue rules implementing NEPA, the eventual outcome could be the elimination of regulations that have guided how project developers and lead agencies have conducted NEPA reviews since the 1970s.
Environmental Justice
As part of the push to eliminate DEI initiatives, Trump issued an executive order for all federal agency, department or commission heads to terminate all environmental justice positions, committees, programs, services, activities, budgets and expenditures from the federal government.[26] Additionally, Trump revoked Executive Order 12898, an action taken by then-President Bill Clinton, which established federal actions to address environmental justice issues in minority and low-income populations.[27]
The revocation of environmental justice projects will pull funding from planned studies and community efforts. The effect on industry may be more complicated than the incoming administration contemplated. A prohibition against environmental justice efforts may slow or potentially halt enforcement actions taken by the EPA, where it focused on achieving results in communities with environmental justice concerns. However, it is unclear how the government’s responsibilities under Title II of the Civil Rights Act will be enforced under the directive to end environmental justice and DEI initiatives.
California Water Infrastructure
In response to the ongoing wildfire in southern California, Trump issued a memorandum to the Secretaries of Interior and Commerce directing them to study and to report back in 90 days on ways “to route more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to other parts of the state [of California] for use by the people there who desperately need a reliable water supply.”[28]
Conclusion
These executive orders and presidential memoranda do not have the force and effect of regulations, but they are powerful statements of Trump’s policies moving forward. Many of the directives for immediate action to be taken by executive agency and department heads can have immediate practical consequences. While rulemakings to change published regulations can take several months to years, mandates to review permits, halt funding or analyze rulemakings could take immediate effect. Of course, the full effect of these actions will depend on the response each agency or department takes. Further, we would expect significant litigation challenging a number of policies within these executive actions.
[1] “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review” (Jan. 20, 2025).
[2] Exec. Order, “Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce” (Jan. 20, 2025).
[3] Nat’l Treasury Employees Union v. Trump, et al., No. 1:25-cv-00170, Complaint filed Jan. 20, 2025.
[4] Pres. Order, “Return to In-Person Work” (Jan. 20, 2025).
[5] Pres. Order, “Hiring Freeze” (Jan. 20, 2025).
[6] Exec. Order No. 14156, “Declaring a National Energy Emergency” (Jan. 20, 2025).
[7] The executive order calls for the Endangered Species Act Committee to review and expedite applications for permits or licenses under the Endangered Species Act that seek exemptions from Section 7 of the Act.
[8] Exec. Order, “Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements” (Jan. 20, 2025).
[9] Pres. Action, “Delivering Emergency Price Relief for American Families and Defeating the Cost-of-Living Crisis” (Jan. 20, 2025).
[10] Exec. Order No. 14148, “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions” (Jan. 20, 2025). See Exec. Order No. 14008, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” 86 Fed. Reg. 7619 (Jan. 27, 2021).
[11] Exec. Order No. 14027, “Establishment of the Climate Change Support Office” (May 7, 2021).
[12] Exec. Order No. 14154, “Unleashing American Energy” (Jan. 20, 2025).
[13] Id.
[14] Exec. Order No. 14153, “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential” (Jan. 20, 2025).
[15] The Presidential Memorandum of March 13, 2023, effectively withdrew the United States from areas designed as the Beaufort Planning Area of the Outer Continental Shelf, which removed the area from consideration for oil or gas leasing for the purposes of exploration, development or production. This memorandum was revoked by Executive Order No. 14148, “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions” (Jan. 20, 2025).
[16] The Trump administration revoked the Northern Bering Sea Climate Change Resilience strategy that was put into place by President Obama in December 2016. See Exec. Order No. 13754, “Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience” (Dec. 9, 2016).
[17] Exec. Order No. 14154, “Unleashing American Energy” (Jan. 20, 2025).
[18] Id.
[19] Pres. Memo, “Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects” (Jan. 20, 2025).
[20] “BOEM Announces Next Steps in Competitive Leasing Process for Offshore Wind Energy in Gulf of Mexico,” Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Dec. 12, 2024.
[21] Exec. Order No. 14037, 86 Fed. Reg. 43583, “Strengthening American Leadership in Clean Cars and Trucks” (Aug. 5, 2021).
[22] Exec. Order No. 14154, “Unleashing American Energy” (Jan. 20, 2025).
[23] Id.
[24] Exec. Order No. 11991, 42 Fed. Reg. 26967, “Responsibilities of Council on Environmental Quality” (May 25, 1977). President Jimmy Carter issued this executive order to empower CEQ to issue regulations rather than guidelines to federal agencies for the implementation of the procedural provisions of NEPA.
[25] Marin Audubon Society v. Fed. Aviation Admin.,No. 23-1067 (D.C. Cir. 2024).
[26] Exec. Order No. 14151, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferences” (Jan. 20, 2025).
[27] Exec. Order No. 12898, 59 Fed. Reg. 7629, “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations” (Feb. 11, 1994). Trump also revoked the similar Executive Order No. 14096, which mandated that each executive branch agency incorporate environmental justice in their missions and called on federal agencies to examine their impact on pollution, climate change and other environmental effects that disproportionately impacted communities of color and low-income communities.
[28] Pres. Mem., “Putting People Over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Provide Water to Southern California” (Jan. 20, 2025).
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