President Trump has wasted no time putting his imprint on American energy policy. Within hours of his swearing in, he signed a dizzying array of relevant executive orders, including one titled “Unleashing American Energy.” While most of the attention has revolved around the president’s focus on producing more domestic oil and gas — “liquid gold,” as he...
Permitting Speeds Up, but 61% of Reviews Are Still Late
On the first day of his second term in office, President Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders that included several provisions aimed at accelerating the federal permitting process. While the long-term impacts of these policies remain to be seen, it is valuable to assess the current landscape. The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) recently...
Defense + Energy = Trump’s National Energy Emergency
Among the raft of executive actions in the first days of his second term, President Trump issued several related to energy and the climate. This included the declaration of a “National Energy Emergency.”
PG&E, other electric utilities call for Senate to pass forest management bill
Electric utilities are calling for the U.S. Senate to pass legislation aimed at reducing wildfire intensity and restoring forest health, in part by allowing power companies greater leeway around vegetation management. The House passed the Save our Forests Act on Thursday in a 279 to 141 vote. The bill would “simplify and expedite the most critical forest...
Low-Energy Fridays: Are Trump’s Executive Orders a Big Deal for Climate Change?
Washington, D.C. is in a tizzy over President Donald J. Trump’s rescission of a slew of policies implemented under former President Joe Biden, and energy policies are receiving special attention in multiple executive orders (EOs). Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement, ended the social cost of carbon, and ordered a halt to climate-related regulation and offshore renewable energy leases—all with the...
Trump kicks off potentially messy fight over Biden’s infrastructure money
An executive order by President Donald Trump requiring agencies to stop paying money for two mammoth Biden-era laws could bring a wide range of infrastructure, transportation and energy projects to a halt — including those already delivering jobs to Republican-led states. The language in question, in one of dozens of orders Trump issued on his first...
Trump freezes IRA funding
President Donald Trump suspended all Inflation Reduction Act funding disbursements in an executive order Monday, part of a sweeping set of directives to begin setting the new administration’s energy agenda. The action, dubbed “Terminating the Green New Deal,” also pauses all funding disbursements for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, commonly known as the bipartisan infrastructure law. The...
Trump executive orders halt wind development, declare energy emergency
While Trump has been a staunch critic of both onshore and offshore wind generation, North Dakota became a national leader in onshore wind generation under Burgum, who took office as governor in 2016. Wind power generation more than doubled in the state from 2015 to 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and currently provides 36% of the...
A National Energy Council Is the Right Direction for the Environment
The 2024 election season made it clear that voters were unwilling to compromise on American energy affordability. Though Harris eventually capitulated on her previous anti-fracking positions, swing states’ embrace of the Trump-Vance ticket was a vote in favor of a strong all-of-the-above energy approach. Some now worry that the incoming Trump administration’s laser focus on...
Trump bars offshore wind leases in opening salvo against his energy nemesis
President Donald Trump ordered a halt to new leases and permits for wind projects on his first day back at the White House. The order stops short of freezing construction of offshore projects along the East Coast, as sought by wind opponents and feared by the industry’s supporters. But it does direct the Interior secretary...