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What Does President Trump's Energy Independence Executive Order Do, and Why Does it Matter?

March 28, 2017

Today, President Trump signed what might be the most consequential energy-related Executive Order (EO) ever. The Chamber has been at the forefront of most of the policy issues addressed in the EO, and our Energy Institute president and CEO, Karen Harbert, was in the room at EPA Headquarters when the President signed the order.

Today’s news comes on the heels of a flurry of pro-energy/pro-economy/pro-jobs measures advanced during the President’s first months in office. Consider that, even prior to the latest EO, the President and his team had already taken action to:

advance permitting decisions for the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines;
stop the costly and cumbersome data-collection program for oil and gas facilities—an intended precursor to eventual regulation;
withdraw the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Waters of the U.S.” rule; repeal restrictions on fracking on federal lands (action also addressed in the EO);and
sign Congressional Review Act legislation repealing the Bureau of Land Management’s anti-coal Stream Buffer Rule and land-grabbing “Planning 2.0 Rule”

It’s clear that the President views energy growth as necessary to achieve his economic agenda, and his efforts in this area are off to a flying start.

But what does this latest action do, and why is it important? It’s a bold order, with an overarching vision statement followed by a package of supporting actions involving numerous agencies and aspects of the energy economy. Most of the individual measures involve complex regulatory actions that we summarize below, but the bottom line is that President Trump is serious about energy and about right-sizing regulations. He’s devoting his time, attention, and political capital to unleashing energy resources in support of “Making America Great Again.” It’s the right policy at the right time, and for that, we thank him.

To help understand the rule, here [click link below for a] is quick look at some of its most important provisions (stay tuned for further analysis on specific details over the coming days):

  • Energy Independence
  • CEQ NEPA Guidance
  • Review of EPA Clean Power Plan
  • Moratorium on Coal Leasing ...

See more at Institute for 21st Cnetury Energy. 

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