President Trump Prioritizes Fossil Fuel Development and Rolls Back Climate Action in Energy

On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14154, entitled "Unleashing American Energy," in coordination with three other executive orders which, together, articulate the administration’s energy policy. The general thrust of the four orders is to encourage the rapid development of fossil fuel resources and all associated infrastructure, and remove any regulatory obstacles; to reverse federal actions on climate change and energy efficiency; and to prevent wind farms from being built on federal lands and waters.

In “Unleashing American Energy," President Trump has ordered that a number of steps be taken to facilitate use of the United States’ “abundance of energy and natural resources,” including:

• Agencies shall review all rules, guidance, and policies that “impose an undue burden on 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.” Agencies shall take action to suspend, revise, or rescind such agency actions within 30 days.
• The Attorney General “shall consider whether pending litigation against illegal, dangerous, or harmful policies should be resolved through stays or other relief.”
• A number of executive orders issued by President Biden related to climate change are revoked, and the American Climate Corps is immediately terminated.
• The Council on Environmental Quality must propose rescinding its NEPA regulations and convene a working group to expedite permitting approvals. In NEPA and other permitting reviews, “agencies shall adhere to only the relevant legislated requirements for environmental considerations and any considerations beyond those requirements are eliminated.”
• All agencies “must prioritize efficiency and certainty over any other objectives, including those of activist groups that do not align with the policy goals.”
• Agencies must “facilitate the permitting and construction of interstate energy transportation and other critical energy infrastructure, including . . . pipelines.”
• The Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases is disbanded and all of its guidance and recommendations are withdrawn.
• Agencies are directed to consider eliminating the “social cost of carbon” calculation.
• EPA and other agencies shall submit recommendations to the Office of Management and Budget on “the legality and continuing applicability” of EPA’s endangerment and cause or contribute finding for greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. 74 Fed. Reg. 66,496 (Dec. 15, 2009).
• All agencies must immediately stop disbursing funds appropriated by the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and review the processes for issuing grants, loans, contracts, or any other financial disbursement of appropriated funds.
• The Department of Energy is directed to begin reviewing applications for liquified natural gas export projects “as expeditiously as possible.” The Maritime Administration is to review approvals for proposed deepwater ports for liquid natural gas export.
• Agencies are to “identify all agency actions that impose undue burdens on the domestic mining and processing of non-fuel minerals and undertake steps to revise or rescind such actions.”