The White House has set out a new national energy policy, which provides:

• The President will unleash American energy by ending Biden’s policies of climate extremism, streamlining permitting, and reviewing for rescission all regulations that impose undue burdens on energy production and use, including mining and processing of non-fuel minerals.
• President Trump’s energy actions empower consumer choice in vehicles and home appliances.
• President Trump will declare an energy emergency and use all necessary resources to build critical infrastructure.
• President Trump’s energy policies will end leasing to massive wind farms that degrade our natural landscapes and fail to serve American energy consumers.
• President Trump will withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord.

He also signed an Executive Order on energy policy to encourage energy exploration and production on federal lands and waters, including on the Outer Continental Shelf, tying the need for an abundant supply of reliable energy to national economic and military security, and eliminating the “electric vehicle (EV) mandate” and promoting true consumer choice.

The policy will also “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, and to promote market competition and innovation within the manufacturing and appliance industries.”

The President also disbanded the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases (IWG), which was established pursuant to a Biden Executive Order, and any guidance, instruction, recommendation, or document issued by the IWG is withdrawn as no longer representative of governmental policy. This includes the IWG’s analysis and estimates for the social cost of carbon, the social cost of methane, or the social cost of nitrous oxide, which have been used by other federal regulatory agencies to support climate change policies and requirements.

Specifically, the new energy policy notes the calculation of the “social cost of carbon” is marked by logical deficiencies, a poor basis in empirical science, politicization, and the absence of a foundation in legislation. Its abuse arbitrarily slows regulatory decisions and renders the United States economy internationally uncompetitive. The policy directs the EPA Administrator within 60 days to issue guidance to address these inadequacies, including consideration of eliminating the “social cost of carbon” calculation from any federal permitting or regulatory decision.

Additionally, the President directed all agencies to immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act including but not limited to ($7.5 billion in) funds for electric vehicle charging stations made available through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program, and review their processes, policies, and programs for issuing grants, loans, contracts, or any other financial disbursements of such appropriated funds for consistency with the law and the administration’s new energy policy.

The policy also directs the Secretary of Energy to restart reviews of applications for approvals of liquified natural gas export projects as expeditiously as possible, consistent with applicable law.

For more information, contact Rick Schweitzer at rpschweitzer@rpslegal.com.