To no one’s surprise, President Trump signed a slew of executive orders in his first hours back in office on January 20, many of them aimed at rolling back or dismantling the energy and environmental policies of the Biden Administration. A tally of those executive orders appears below. We will publish a deeper dive into several of these actions in the coming days and weeks, examining the impact of particular policies in specific sectors of the economy.
Withdrawal from Paris Agreement. Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement, adopted by 196 parties at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris in December 2015, for the second time.
Reversing Ban on Offshore Drilling. Trump issued an Executive Order reversing a long list of Biden Administration policies, including two Jan. 6, 2025 Presidential Memoranda that banned new offshore drilling leases across approximately 625 million acres along the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and parts of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea.
Restarting Permitting for LNG Export Projects. In an Executive Order titled “Unleashing American Energy,” Trump reversed a Biden Administration pause on permitting reviews for liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects. The EO contains specific instructions for completing environmental review of such projects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which was also targeted for reform in Trump’s flurry of action. The EO also addresses a litany of other energy policies of the new administration, including challenging the EPA’s 2009 greenhouse gas emissions risk finding that serves as the basis for several EPA climate rules, ending work on the “social cost of carbon” metric, and ordering the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to look at rescinding CEQ’s NEPA regulations in order to streamline permitting for fossil fuel projects.
Ending New Offshore Wind Leasing. Trump also withdrew all areas of the outer continental shelf from disposition for leasing for new offshore wind energy projects. The order may not have an immediate impact on areas already leased, but several projects within those areas have experienced significant headwinds, leaving their futures unclear.
Reopening Swaths of Alaska Wilderness for Fossil Fuel Development. Trump directed several agencies to take specific actions aimed at reopening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska to oil and gas development, marking an immediate reinstatement of policies that were in place upon Trump’s first departure from office. Whether oil and gas companies will move quickly to bid for newly available lease areas remains to be seen.
Lifting Tailpipe Emissions Standards for Cars and Light Trucks. In further evidence of the new administration’s turn away from carbon-free transportation and toward the fossil fuel industry, Trump began an effort to repeal Biden Administration regulations that set stringent emissions standards for cars and light trucks beginning in 2027, over the objections of several automakers who had begun to implement a strategy focused on manufacturing more electric vehicles.
Declaring a National Energy Emergency. Yet another executive order signed on Monday declared a “national energy emergency,” in an effort to spur emergency approvals of various energy-related infrastructure, including accelerated permitting under environmental statutes. The language of the EO makes clear that it is calibrated to favor fossil fuel energy sources while disfavoring solar and wind energy.
The above actions, while dramatic, comprise only a portion of the new administration’s energy and environmental platform, which will be rolled out in the coming weeks and months. Duane Morris has a full-service team of energy and environmental attorneys following developments as they arise and helping clients to strategize in turbulent times. If you have questions or wish to speak with someone, please do not hesitate to contact Brad Thompson, Phil Cha, Shelton Vaughn, or any other attorney in the firm.