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Trump agencies tout progress in trimming regulations, say more cuts coming

During a Nov. 29 hearing on Capitol Hill, officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Interior and Department of Energy recounted their recent work to cut regulations for the energy sector and other industries, a key tenet of Donald Trump's presidency.

The hearing was the third in a series on Trump's regulatory reform efforts before the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The hearings have focused on the impact of two executive orders Trump issued in early 2017: Order 13771, which required nonindependent federal agencies to identify two regulations for repeal for each new regulation, and Order 13777, which directed agencies to form regulatory reform task forces to help implement the first order.

Interior Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt said the department has removed 154 regulatory actions from its Spring 2017 agenda and reported 15 deregulatory actions in fiscal year 2017. Another 28 deregulatory actions are anticipated for the DOI in fiscal year 2018, he added.

Many of the DOI's recent rule-cutting efforts have touched on energy, with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke reversing a moratorium on new leases for coal production on federal lands and moving to suspend or delay a rule to limit methane leaks from oil and gas operations. Both actions, however, have encountered legal challenges.

Bernhardt also highlighted Congress' work to roll back Interior regulations through the Congressional Review Act, including the Obama administration's Stream Protection Rule for coal producers and a resource management planning rule from the Bureau of Land Management, which is part of the DOI.

The EPA has also followed through on Trump's call to repeal major regulations. Brittany Bolen, who is deputy associate administrator for the EPA's Office of Policy and a member of the agency's regulatory reform task force, said EPA rules imposed no new new costs in fiscal year 2017 and are expected to do the same in fiscal 2018.

The agency is about to release its fall semiannual unified regulatory agenda, and "EPA does have a number of new actions that will be included," Bolen told S&P Global Market Intelligence after the hearing.

So far under Trump, the EPA has started the process of repealing the Clean Power Plan, which required state-specific cuts in carbon emissions rates from existing power plants, and the Clean Water Rule governing how federally protected waters are defined. In terms of finalized actions, the EPA in March withdrew an information collection request on methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, a move Bolen said is estimated to provide over $30 million in cost savings.

In addition to Orders 13771 and 13777, Trump issued a directive entitled "Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth," or Order 13783. The mandate required federal agencies to review regulations, guidance documents and other actions that could burden domestic energy output, particularly fossil fuels and nuclear power.

Daniel Simmons, principal deputy assistant secretary for the DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, told lawmakers at the Nov. 29 hearing that the DOE's regulatory reform task force has come up with several recommendations in response to Trump's orders, including speeding approval of LNG exports. The DOE issued a proposed rule Sept. 1 to provide faster approval of small-scale natural gas exports. The agency is reviewing comments on the proposal and "plans to complete the rulemaking in the near future," Bolen said in his prepared remarks.

GOP lawmakers at the hearing applauded the administration's push to ease regulatory burdens. "This check of the massive regulatory state is long overdue," said U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, chairman of the House Oversight Committee's Subcommittee on the Interior, Energy, and Environment.

But Rep. Val Butler Demings, D-Fla., ranking member of the Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Affairs, said Trump's regulatory rollback is an "abdication" of the government's responsibility to protect the environment. She took particular aim at the proposed Clean Power Plan repeal and the DOE's request for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to craft a rule ensuring full cost recovery plus a return on investment for certain coal and nuclear plants participating in wholesale markets.

Rep. Stacey Plaskett, D-U.S. Virgin Islands, ranking member of the interior and energy subcommittee, asked for more transparency around the agencies' regulatory reform task forces, saying the DOE and Interior "are not fully open about membership" and whether members have previously worked for regulated entities.

"The American people have a right to know what their government is doing," Plaskett said.