Using Executive Orders, President Advances Agenda to Approve Pipelines, Reverse Obama Carbon Rule & Repeal Federal Bans on Production
While much of the media coverage of the first 100 days of the Trump Administration has focused on the Administration’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
Energy is particularly fertile ground for success since 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.
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 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’s accomplishment to undo the CPP is a very big deal.
Editor's Note
This is an excerpt from an institutional research note written by Hedgeye Potomac Senior Energy Policy analyst Joe McMonigle. To read more of our institutional research email sales@hedgeye.com.
