Washington outlook: U.S. federal energy policy changed radically on January 20

DAVID BLACKMON, Contributing Editor, Washington and Regulatory Affairs 

Fig. 1. Newly minted Secretary of Energy Chris Wright is leading the charge to implement President Trump’s redirection of U.S. energy policy. Image: Official portrait.

Chris Wright, the founder and former CEO of Liberty Energy, has made a lot of news since being confirmed as Energy Secretary for the second presidency of Donald J. Trump, Fig. 1. Never one to shy away from controversy, Wright quickly became a leading advocate for Trump’s agenda to not only revive the nation’s energy minerals industries, but to restore what he calls American energy dominance. 

Upon his confirmation by the Senate on Feb. 3, Secretary Wright’s first order of business was to reorder the priorities of the department he now oversees. Gone is the Biden era’s focus on “throwing gold bars off the Titanic.” This is how one EPA employee caught on hidden camera last December described the administration’s efforts to shove as much green subsidy money as possible out the door in the weeks following the Nov. 5 elections. In place of that, Wright kicked off a series of policy priorities designed to meet the President’s goals.  

NINE MAJOR PRIORITIES 

In a Feb. 5 press release, Secretary Wright laid out a list of nine major priorities for the DOE to implement in the coming months. They are designed to “unleash a golden era of American energy dominance,” Fig. 2.

Those priorities are as follows, articulated by the Secretary: 

1. Advance energy addition, not subtraction. Great attention has been paid to the pursuing of a net-zero carbon future. Net-zero policies raise energy costs for American families and businesses, threaten the reliability of our energy system, and undermine our energy and national security. They also have achieved precious little in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. The fact is that energy matters, and we need more of it, not less. Going forward, the department’s goal will be to unleash the great abundance of American energy required to power modern life and to achieve a durable state of U.S. energy dominance. 
2. Unleash American energy innovation. The department’s research and development (R&D) enterprise is the envy of the world. We must focus our time and resources on technologies that will advance basic science, grow America’s scientific leadership, reduce costs for American families, strengthen the reliability of our energy system, and bolster America’s manufacturing competitiveness and supply chain security. As such, the department’s R&D efforts will prioritize affordable, reliable, and secure energy technologies, including fossil fuels and advanced nuclear, geothermal, and hydropower.
   

   Fig. 2. Secretary Wright and his team will implement nine policy priorities from DOE headquarters in the Forrestal Building in Washington, D.C. Image: Library of Congress, Carol M. Highsmith Collection.
    

The department also must prioritize true technological breakthroughs—such as nuclear fusion, high-performance computing, quantum computing, and AI—to maintain America’s global competitiveness. To that end, the department will comprehensively review its R&D portfolio. As part of that review, the department will rigorously enforce project milestones to ensure that taxpayer resources are allocated appropriately and cost-effectively, consistent with the law. 

3. Return to regular order on LNG exports. America is blessed with abundant energy resources—we are the world’s top oil and gas producer and a net energy exporter for the first time in decades. Our energy abundance is an asset, not a liability. On Jan. 20, the department resumed consideration of pending applications to export American liquefied natural gas (LNG) to countries without a free trade agreement (FTA) with the U.S. in accordance with the Natural Gas Act. Proper consideration of LNG export applications is required by law and shall proceed accordingly. 
4. Promote affordability and consumer choice in home appliances. A top priority of the Trump administration is to ensure that American families can choose from a range of affordable home appliances and products. Therefore, the department will initiate a comprehensive review of the DOE Appliance Standards Program. Any standards should include a cost-benefit analysis, considering the upfront cost of purchasing new products and reflecting actual cost savings for American families. The department will pursue a commonsense approach that does not regulate products that consumers value out of the market; instead, affordability and consumer choice will be our guiding light. 
   

   Fig. 3. A significant priority will be to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve from its current, historically low level. Image: DOE.
5. Refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). As President Trump has stated, the SPR is a national asset that protects our security in times of crisis, Fig. 3. It must be refilled. Unfortunately, the SPR is currently at historically low levels. We will not permit this to become a new status quo. Moreover, the department will review SPR infrastructure and develop appropriate plans to safeguard this important strategic asset. 
6. Modernize America’s nuclear stockpile. We urgently need to modernize the nation’s nuclear weapons systems. The department will continue its critical mission of protecting our national security and nuclear deterrence in the development, modernization and stewardship of America’s atomic weapons enterprise, including the peaceful use of nuclear technology and nonproliferation. 
7. Unleash commercial nuclear power in the United States. The long-awaited American nuclear renaissance must launch during President Trump’s administration. As global energy demand continues to grow, America must lead the commercialization of affordable and abundant nuclear energy. As such, the department will work diligently and creatively to enable the rapid deployment and export of next-generation nuclear technology. 
8. Strengthen grid reliability and security. Fortifying America’s electric grid is critical to the reliable and secure delivery of electricity. Under President Trump’s Executive Order, “Declaring a National Energy Emergency,” the department will identify and exercise all lawful authorities to strengthen the nation’s grid, including the backbone of the grid, our transmission system. This is an imperative, as we consider current and anticipated load growth on our nation’s electric utilities. Moreover, after two decades of very slow demand growth, electricity demand is forecast to soar in the coming years. The department will bring a renewed focus to growing baseload and dispatchable generation to reliably meet growing demand. 
9. Streamline permitting and identify undue burdens on American energy. A burdensome federal permitting process undermines America’s competitiveness and national security. Pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Orders, the department will prioritize more efficient permitting to enable private sector investments and build the energy infrastructure needed to make energy more affordable, reliable and secure. To that end, the department will identify and exercise its legal authorities to expedite the approval and construction of reliable energy infrastructure. 

Fig. 4. Newly installed EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is shown taking the oath of office on Jan. 29, 2025. Image: EPA.

The department’s mission is vital to American security and prosperity. Working together, we will accelerate American science, reduce energy costs for American families and businesses, and strengthen the reliability and security of our nation’s energy system—all in our quest to better human lives. I look forward to working with you on this noble mission.  

NEEDED COORDINATION BETWEEN AGENCIES 

Obviously, moving forward on several of these initiatives will require coordination between DOE and other federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, headed up by new Administrator Lee Zeldin (Fig. 4), and the Department of Interior led by Secretary Doug Burgum, Fig. 5. Much of the coordination between these and other relevant federal departments and agencies will be managed via the newly-created National Energy Council (NEC), with Burgum as chairman. Not surprisingly, the charge for the NEC is to, in President Trump’s words, “oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE.” 

While it will take some weeks to organize this NEC and get it up and running, Trump and his team quickly began taking action on several of the priorities laid out in Wright’s announcement. 

Fig. 5. Doug Burgum (left) visits with Washington Park Police leadership, two days after taking office as Secretary of the Interior. Image: DOI.

DOI REVIVES OIL AND GAS LEASING PROGRAM 

Just two days following President Trump’s inauguration, the Bureau of Land Management Montana-Dakotas State Office held a lease sale, offering 13 parcels covering 1,324 acres in Montana and North Dakota. The sale generated 255 bids totaling more than $11 million in accepted high bids.  

While the Biden administration, under Interior Secretary Deb Haaland—a lifelong anti-oil and gas activist—used numerous excuses to heavily restrict the number of both onshore and offshore federal lease sales, Burgum promises that the industry can expect a return to regular order in this key area, at least for the next four years. 

Burgum’s commitment to restore regular order was reinforced on Feb. 11, when President Trump nominated Kathleen Sgamma, who has headed up the Denver-based Western Energy Alliance since 2006, to serve as the next Chair of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). WEA has represented the interests of independent oil and gas producers for more than 50 years across nine states in the Intermountain West. Sgamma brings a wealth of experience and knowledge about the multiple-use principles adopted by the Department of Interior during the Theodore Roosevelt presidency, and detailed knowledge of the day-to-day functions at the BLM. 

TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDERS 

President Trump, himself, hit the ground running on energy policy, issuing a series of energy-related executive orders that will help move the ball forward on several of Wright’s objectives. 

The President’s Day-1 orders included fulfilling his promise to reverse Biden’s January 2024 order pausing permitting of new infrastructure for the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Biden had based his order on specious findings in a preliminary study published by Cornell University researcher Robert Howarth, a long-time anti-natural gas activist.  

The draft study included the transparently preposterous finding that U.S LNG creates vastly more emissions than coal-fired power plants. Biden and then-Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm latched onto Howarth’s preliminary findings with a claim that conducting a DOE study on the alleged impacts of LNG industry growth was urgently needed. 

That flimsy basis for the “pause” began to fall apart when independent researchers forced Howarth to dramatically alter his findings in the final study published in September 2024. When DOE’s own study was finally published in late November, it found that expansion of the domestic LNG industry would create no significant environmental or economic harm, in spite of Granholm’s efforts to misrepresent the findings in a three-page letter leaked to The New York Times the day before the study was released. 

Trump’s order reversing Biden’s action ended one of the most deceptive periods in DOE’s long history. 

President Trump also acted on Day-1 to try to revive the oil and gas industry in Alaska, which had steadily diminished during the Biden years. During his time in office, Biden refused to hold statutorily required lease sales in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, banned drilling in the Bering Sea, cancelled lease sales in the Cook Inlet, denied promised land allotments to Alaska Native veterans, and used an array of regulatory tricks to slow permitting of energy projects of all kinds.  

Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order, titled “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential,” specifies that “It is the policy of the United States to: (a)  fully avail itself of Alaska’s vast lands and resources for the benefit of the nation and the American citizens who call Alaska home; (b) efficiently and effectively maximize the development and production of the natural resources located on both federal and state lands within Alaska; (c)  expedite the permitting and leasing of energy and natural resource projects in Alaska; and (d)  prioritize the development of Alaska’s liquified natural gas (LNG) potential, including the sale and transportation of Alaskan LNG to other regions of the United States and allied nations within the Pacific region. 

That last item places special focus on the advancement of Alaska’s LNG Project to move gas produced on the North Slope to an export facility at Nikiski through a planned 800-mi pipeline. During a formal Oval Office meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Trump said the two spoke “at length” about the project, and they announced a planned joint venture to advance it to completion. 

“Japan will soon begin importing historic new shipments of clean American liquefied natural gas in record numbers,” Trump said. “It'll be record numbers.” 

Another Trump executive order addresses the fourth item on Sec. Wright’s list related to promoting affordability and consumer choice in home appliances, i.e., reversing the Biden-era war on gas stoves and other natural gas appliances.   

His order would “safeguard the American people’s freedom to choose from a variety of goods and appliances, including but not limited to lightbulbs, dishwashers, washing machines, gas stoves, water heaters, toilets, and shower heads.” 

The Biden administration used the tactic of invoking strict new efficiency standards that would do little to cut emissions but would effectively ban an array of natural gas appliance models that can’t meet the new standards. Biden’s Energy Department regulators most recently used the day after Christmas to publish heavy-handed new efficiency standards that effectively ban scores of currently-made models of natural gas water heaters. The Trump order seeks to end this practice and orders DOE and other departments to work to reverse Biden-era actions.  

President Trump also acted on Jan. 20 to reverse Biden’s Jan. 6 executive order setting a vast swath of U.S. offshore waters permanently off-limits to future oil and gas leasing and drilling, Fig. 6. Biden’s ban covers a whopping 625 million acres, an area larger than the states of Alaska and Texas combined. The order covers both the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, most of the Bering Sea, and the eastern third of the Gulf of Mexico, areas that combined are known to contain billions of barrels of recoverable oil. 

Fig. 6. On Jan. 20, President Trump took action to reverse the ban on oil and gas leasing that former President Biden imposed on Jan. 6 for the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, most of the Bering Sea, and the eastern third of the Gulf of Mexico. However, the matter is likely to end up in the courts before final resolution. Map: BOEM.

Biden grounded his order under Section 12 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which gives presidents authority to issue such set-asides, but remains silent on whether such orders can be reversed by future presidents. A reading of Section 12 makes clear it was intended only for use during war time and other national emergencies, but this is a question that has never been tested above the U.S. district court level. 

Trump fulfilled a campaign promise in issuing his reversal, but it seems almost certain to be a matter that will be decided in the courts. 

THE HARD WORK STILL TO COME 

Many smart observers and D.C. insiders will respond to Trump’s opening feeding frenzy of policy action with the old saying, “You live by executive order, you die by executive order.” That’s valid, as Biden is finding out the hard way. So, President Trump and his team still face the hard work of getting legislation done while working with tiny congressional majorities. 

But even with that, this change in presidential administrations signals that the United States and its domestic oil and gas industry have entered into a radically changed playing field, where energy and climate policy are concerned. 

There is no question that many of Trump’s orders will result in permanent change to the nation’s energy landscape. In addition to the orders detailed above, President Trump also cancelled U.S. participation in the 2015 Paris Climate Accords; clawed back $4 billion in commitments to a UN-managed climate fund; ended Biden-era targets related to electric vehicles; suspended development of offshore wind installations in the Northeast Atlantic and cancelled future offshore wind lease sales; and ordered EPA Administrator Zeldin to end the federal government’s regulatory “war on coal,” which commenced during the Obama administration.  

Trump and his team did all that and more during just his first three weeks in office. 

THE BOTTOM LINE 

During a Feb. 11 interview on CNBC, Secretary Wright summed up the Trump philosophy by telling the hosts this: 

“What we will not do is follow the German model, and I think the last administration wanted to go down that road. Germany spent half-a-trillion dollars, made their electricity two to three times more expensive, and they produce 20% less electricity today than they did 15 years ago. We're not going to go down that road. We want affordable, reliable, secure energy and a reindustrialization of America, not a deindustrialization of America.” 

The world has changed, and the oil and gas industry must be prepared to change with it.