President-elect Donald Trump pledged to declare a national energy emergency as soon as he took office on Monday, months after promising voters he would cut electricity and gasoline prices in half in the first year of his administration.
“To achieve this rapid reduction in energy costs, I will declare a national emergency to allow us to dramatically increase energy production, generation, and supply,” Trump said. He told his supporters at a rally In Potterville, Michigan last August. He added: “Starting from day one, I will approve new drilling, new pipelines, new refineries, new power plants, new reactors, and we will reduce red tape.”
The President-elect on December 22 reiterated his determination to “Declaring a national energy emergency“On the first day of his administration. He pledged to issue a series of executive orders to reverse the Biden administration's policies on natural gas exports, drilling, and emissions standards.
Trump plans to create National Energy Council Led by North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, who chose him to lead the Department of the Interior. Burgum said during a Senate hearing on his nomination this week that he expects the council to be established through executive order.
It is unclear whether the emergency declaration will be largely symbolic or will invoke broader powers beyond the executive orders on energy that Trump is widely expected to issue on Monday. The president-elect's transition team did not respond to a request for comment.
“I expect it will be a rhetorical declaration of an energy emergency,” said Mike Sommers, head of the oil industry lobbying group at the American Petroleum Institute. “When you put the executive orders together, this will be the answer to what to do about the energy emergency.”
Glenn Schwartz, director of energy policy at Rapidan Energy, a consulting firm, said there are several emergency laws that Trump could invoke regarding energy. Emergencies are often loosely defined under federal law, Schwartz said, giving the president broad discretion to use them as he sees fit.
Trump is likely to face little opposition from the courts because they are reluctant to challenge presidential decisions on national security, Schwartz said.
“What you'll end up with is that even if Trump expands his emergency powers in unprecedented ways, it's not clear whether the courts will step in to stop any of these resulting actions,” the analyst said.
Potential emergency powers
There is clear precedent for Trump to invoke emergency authority to boost power generation and expand the nation's fuel supply, Schwartz told clients in a research report published last Thursday. Authorities using these powers will waive some energy-related environmental and pollution rules.
The analyst said Trump may issue fuel waivers under the Clean Air Act to allow gasoline into the market, which could violate federal air quality standards. He said presidents often used such exemptions whenever they needed to increase the country's gasoline supply and keep prices under control.
Trump could also subpoena Federal energy law “Power plants were ordered to operate at maximum capacity and not adhere to pollution limits,” Schwartz said. The Secretary of Energy can activate this law in times of war or when a sudden increase in demand or shortage of electricity creates an emergency.
The provision has rarely been used since World War II, Schwartz said, and has been reserved mostly for situations where severe weather overwhelmed power plants.
PJM Interconnection, the largest network operator in the United States, has warned of the… Lack of energy Coal plants are being shut down faster than new energy can be made available. PJM operates the network in all or parts of 13 states, in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and South.
The situation may become more acute as demand for electricity increases dramatically as the technology sector builds power-hungry data centers to support artificial intelligence applications.
The first Trump administration considered enacting the law in 2018 to order utilities to purchase power for two years from coal and nuclear plants that were at risk of closing. Ultimately, management at the time abandoned the idea after encountering opposition from industry.
Trump could also choose A The broader platform This allows the president to suspend pollution regulations for industrial plants, power plants, oil refineries, steel mills, chemical plants and other industrial facilities in emergency situations, Schwartz said.
Schwartz said there is less support under federal law for the president to force new production. Trump can direct federal agencies to speed up environmental reviews of energy projects he supports, such as pipelines, but the president cannot use emergency powers to circumvent key environmental policies such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act, the analyst said.
Expected executive orders
Oil industry lobbyists at the American Petroleum Institute expect Trump to issue a series of energy-related orders on Monday.
The administration is expected to issue an order to lift the temporary suspension of the Biden team New exports of liquefied natural gas Somers said the attendant. The president-elect will also likely try to reverse President Biden's recent decision to ban drilling in 625 million acre-feet of federal waters. Trump's authority to do so has been disputed, and such an order would likely end up in court.
“We see that he has the potential to reverse that and we will defend that in court,” Sommers said.
Somers said the industry expects the president will also direct the Interior Department to increase oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico. The Biden administration had issued Fewest leases in history Within a program scheduled to continue until 2029.
These decisions are not expected to have any immediate impact on production. The United States has been the world's largest oil and gas producer for six years, ahead of Saudi Arabia and Russia. CEOs for Exxon and Chevron They make clear that production decisions are based on market conditions, not a response to those in the White House.
“You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink,” Schwartz said. “He can give them all the resources they need to be able to dig, but I haven't seen anything that suggests he can force them to dig it out of the ground.”
Trump is expected to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. Executive orders targeting exhaust emissions and fuel economy standards for vehicles are also expected.
However, Sommers said only so much can be done through executive order, and directives often have to go through a time-consuming rulemaking process. He said the oil industry is more focused on pushing for more sustainable policy changes in the Republican-controlled Congress.
“There's not a lot they'll be able to do on day one, other than direct federal agencies to deliver on their promise of energy dominance,” Sommers said.
