S&P Global Offerings
Featured Topics
Featured Products
Events
S&P Global Offerings
Featured Topics
Featured Products
Events
S&P Global Offerings
Featured Topics
Featured Products
Events
S&P Global Offerings
Featured Topics
Featured Products
Events
Solutions
Capabilities
Delivery Platforms
News & Research
Our Methodology
Methodology & Participation
Reference Tools
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Featured Events
S&P Global
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
S&P Global Offerings
S&P Global
Research & Insights
S&P Global
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
About Commodity Insights
Solutions
Capabilities
Delivery Platforms
News & Research
Our Methodology
Methodology & Participation
Reference Tools
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Featured Events
S&P Global
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
S&P Global Offerings
S&P Global
Research & Insights
S&P Global
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
About Commodity Insights
Coal, Natural Gas, Electric Power, Nuclear
January 21, 2025
By Sarah Smith and Maya Weber
HIGHLIGHTS
Tells DOE to resume LNG export reviews
Seeks to halt spending on IRA
President Donald Trump issued an Unleashing America's Energy executive order and declared a national energy emergency within hours of being sworn in.
The unleashing energy order set broad US policy goals of encouraging exploration and production on federal lands and waters, aiming to ensure a reliable supply of energy, and seeking to position the US as a leading producer and processor of non-fuel minerals.
The document called for agencies to review their rules and policies to flag those that limit developing domestic energy resources, "with particular attention to oil, natural gas, coal, hydropower, biofuels, critical mineral, and nuclear energy resources."
From there, the Office of Management and Budget and National Economic Council should create plans to pause, revise, or rescind such limiting measures, the order said.
Agencies were tasked with ending any delays in their permitting processes. The White House also encouraged agencies to use emergency powers to speed permits for projects the agency head deems essential for the US economy.
In a separate order on Jan. 20, Trump declared a national energy emergency,
"The energy and critical minerals ... identification, leasing, development, production, transportation, refining, and generation capacity of the United States are all far too inadequate to meet our Nation's needs," the order said, declaring energy prices an "active threat to the American people."
The order said the US's energy infrastructure integrity and expansion were an "immediate and pressing priority" related to national and economic uncertainty. The White House urged the agencies to use their emergency authorities to encourage the use of domestic energy resources.
The US became the world's largest producer of oil in 2018, and the nation is also the largest producer of natural gas.
As expected, the unleashing energy order lifted the Biden administration's pause on reviews of key LNG export applications. In determining whether exports are in the public interest, the US Department of Energy was instructed to consider the economic and employment impacts of the exports, along with effects on the security of allies. However, climate and environmental considerations were not mentioned.
Trump tasked the DOE with restarting reviews of LNG projects "as expeditiously as possible, consistent with applicable law."
In the executive order, Trump attempted to pare back some of the climate and environmental justice considerations expanded under the Biden administration permitting.
Agencies were instructed to limit environmental considerations to those required by legislation. The order criticizes the social cost of carbon tool for calculating climate costs of agency actions and asks the US Environmental Protection Agency to consider guidance on eliminating the calculations from any permitting or regulatory decision.
An executive order prioritizing environmental justice considerations was also extinguished.
The Trump White House's order specifically identified the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases for disbandment. It directed the EPA and other agencies to reassess the government's existing endangerment findings related to greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
At the same time, the order revokes a Carter-era executive action that directed the White House Council on Environmental Quality to issue National Environmental Policy Act rules.
Instead, the CEQ is tasked with coordinating agency-level rewrites of NEPA implementing rules; the CEQ should put a premium on expediting approvals "over any other objectives, including those of activist groups," the order said.
The order added onto a separate same-day executive order — dubbed the Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions — that pulled back multiple Biden administration executive orders. The rescissions in the Unleashing American Energy order focused on climate-change-mitigation policies.
The Unleashing American Energy order aimed to halt action on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, instructing "all agencies [to] immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated" through the law.
The order called out funds for electric vehicle charging stations in particular and told all agencies to reassess their funds allocation related to the IRA over the next 90 days.
No funding should be made available until the Office of Management and Budget and the President for Economic Policy indicate that the money aligns with "any review recommendations they have chosen to adopt," the order said.
The order took aim at efficiency standards for appliances. It declared that it is US policy to "safeguard the American people's freedom to choose from a variety of goods and appliances, including but not limited to lightbulbs, dishwashers, washing machines, gas stoves, water heaters, toilets, and shower heads."
The Biden administration set new energy conservation standards for about two dozen product classes, reviewed potential health hazards of gas cooking equipment and enacted policies to support building electrification — actions that Republicans, some Democrats and industry groups framed as a regulatory assault on gas appliances.
The order also included a section focused on minerals, with provisions aimed at bolstering domestic mining production.
The section targeted cutting back rules that impact mining activities, advancing mining potential on public lands, and accelerating geologic mapping. The order also called for assessing whether minerals imported into the US were derived from forced labor practices.