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.” Trump has used the declaration of an emergency to grant his administration widespread but opaque powers to promote American energy independence and abundance. This opens up tremendous opportunities for executive action, which can, if appropriately used, spur significant investment in abundant, clean energy. However, an energy emergency declaration could result in abuse and misuse if incorrectly used.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, there are 150 statutory powers available during emergencies, 137 of which can be invoked during a presidentially declared emergency. 

The action includes some specific provisions and requirements for agencies, but more notable is the direct and intimate connection that the order makes between energy security and domestic and international defense capabilities. This connection—similar to the one established in the 2019 emergency declaration that allowed the President to use Department of Defense (DoD) resources to fund the border wall—enables resources that are appropriated for defense purposes to be redirected towards energy production, transportation, refining, and generation. This could enable a tremendous increase in government spending and leasing for energy projects. 

The order explicitly tasks the Secretaries of Interior, Energy, and Defense to study DoD capabilities for energy acquisition and transport, “with a focus on such vulnerabilities within the Northeast and West Coast regions of the United States.” 

The very first directive of the executive order is for all agency heads to identify and exercise any lawful authority “to facilitate the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, and generation of domestic energy resources” and to recommend to the President any actions that may require Defense Production Act authority for implementation. While sweeping, this order primarily telegraphs a necessary priority for agency heads rather than requiring specific actions. The order specifically requires that EPA prepare and consider issuing fuel waivers for the year-round sale of E15 gasoline.

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While the order itself does not immediately take dramatic actions, rather it opens up new resources and powers for Trump to use and it directs agencies to review and produce reports on obstacles to energy production. The most impactful of these may be from DoD because if the DoD report on the acquisition and transport of energy finds that there are significant vulnerabilities (which it inevitably will) and that these vulnerabilities pose a national security risk, then DoD has further justification for directing substantial resources towards energy infrastructure, also reviewed and reported on under the executive order. 

National security has often been used to rationalize subsidizing or mandating politically preferred energy technologies—both fossil-based and carbon-free. Whether $60-per-gallon biofuels for the Air Force or a potential bailout of uneconomic coal-fired plants, when there is only a tenuous national security justification for executive action, taxpayers and energy consumers are saddled with high costs and minimal benefits. There is a real and important connection between energy abundance and our defensive capabilities, but DOD actions should be constrained and limited to legitimate national security justification.

The order also mentions waivers to the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act under the national emergency but notably, it does not mention the Clean Air Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, the hobbyhorse for complaints from energy abundance advocates. The omission of provisions related to NEPA may be due to the sweeping changes made to the Council on Environmental Quality in “Unleashing American Energy”—an additional executive order from President Trump. 

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President Trump has emphasized his commitment to using every tool available to promote, expand, and secure American energy. This emergency declaration unlocks additional tools, though it is not yet clear how they will be deployed. The President has made clear that he wants to unite the concerns about energy availability to broader national security considerations, including the popular antipathy towards China. 

While national security can quickly become a justification for any policy position and it remains to be seen how this emergency declaration will be used by the administration, there is a real and essential connection between energy availability and our nation’s ability to defend itself and deter foreign adversaries. The President is right that an energy abundance agenda that reduces regulatory barriers and promotes innovation and good governance can best serve America’s economic and national security interests.