Today marks the 100th day of the new Trump Administration. While much of the media coverage so far has been critical about the President’s lack
of accomplishments, it is undeniable that the President is winning on advancing his energy agenda.
- Approved Dakota Access Pipeline
- Approved Keystone XL Pipeline
- Executive Order on Clean Power Plan (CPP)
- Repeal Obama Guidelines on “Social Cost of Carbon”
- Pause Litigation on CPP, Ozone Standards & Mercury Rule
- Repeal Coal-Leasing Ban on Federal Lands
- Revoke Obama Hydraulic-fracturing Rule on Federal Lands
- Expand Federal Offshore Lease Sales for Oil & Gas Production
As we said in a client note on January 5, energy would provide the most potential for success for the new administration because nearly all action could be accomplished via executive orders or regulatory procedures that needed no assistance in Congress. Ironically, President Obama could be thanked here because he mainly used executive actions instead of legislation to push his environmental agenda, and those tools are now being used to undo his legacy.
Trump had two easy wins in the early days of his administration by approving the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines that had been rejected by the Obama Administration. Moreover, Trump has signed an executive order that essentially puts an end to pipeline politics and restores regular order to federal regulatory approvals of energy infrastructure.
But the biggest accomplishment in the first 100 days is perhaps Trump’s March 28 executive order that essentially directs EPA to rescind the Obama Clean Power Plan (CPP). A federal appeals court on Friday provided the White House with another win by suspending litigation on the Obama rule due to fact that Trump’s EPA had told the court it was reviewing and likely changing the regulation. The court still could have issued a ruling on the substance of the litigation but it would have been highly unusual.
It was the second stay for the CPP as in early 2016 the Supreme Court had issued a stay of the rule’s implementation while litigation proceeded in lower courts. The federal appeals court heard oral arguments in the fall and by all accounts looked to be leaning in the direction of upholding the rule. But the Trump election changed this outlook since EPA told the court the rule was no longer the policy of the federal government.
If ObamaCare was the legacy of President Obama’s first term, he made it clear that climate change would be the legacy of his second term. The hallmark of that policy was the CPP that limited carbon emissions at new and existing power plants and incentivized the use of wind, solar and other clean energy sources.
The CPP was to be the start of the Obama climate policy to decarbonize the US economy. After the power sector rule, other sectors would also soon be subjected to stringent and likely costly carbon rules. It was expected that Hillary Clinton would have continued the Obama policy and perhaps strengthened it.
The Trump election is reversing this course and repealing a major legacy of Obama’s second term. Whether you agree with the policy or not, Trump accomplishment to undo the CPP is a very big deal.
In addition to the CPP, the Administration has repealed the Obama guidelines to federal agencies to consider the “social cost of carbon” in making regulatory approvals. EPA has also won a pause from another federal court on litigation of Obama’s stricter ozone standard that would have potentially put the entire country into non-attainment zones. Trump’s EPA will likely roll back the standard. A similar pause is also being sought for federal litigation on the Obama mercury rule.
Other Executive Orders Signed by the President repealed a ban on coal-leasing on federal lands and revoked an Obama rule on hydraulic-fracturing on federal lands.
And on the 99th day of the Trump Administration, the President signed an executive order that orders a review of the Obama Administration’s Five-Year Offshore Leasing Plan that essentially banned drilling in the Arctic as well as the Mid- and South Atlantic. The review will take two years but is likely to expand federal offshore sales planned over the next five years. Meanwhile, the Interior Department will approve seismic testing off the US East Coast that is needed to update decades-old estimates of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and gas offshore.
