/>iOn 4 March, President Donald J. Trump touted his America First energy dominance agenda in an address to a joint session of Congress. He promised “swift and unrelenting action” and noted that within his first 43 days in office, he signed nearly 100 executive orders and took more than 400 executive actions.1 He highlighted several actions impacting energy, environmental, and natural resources policies that will have wide-ranging consequences for companies operating in those sectors.
President Trump announced his intention to boost the economy and fight inflation by “rapidly reducing the cost of energy.” He promoted his “drill, baby, drill” strategy for restoring robust oil and natural gas production in the United States as a primary mechanism for achieving this goal. He simultaneously promised aggressive deregulation of the energy sector, noting that he imposed “a freeze on all new federal regulations,” ended Biden-era environmental restrictions, and directed that “for every one new regulation, 10 old regulations must be eliminated.”
President Trump claimed credit for withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, terminating the Biden administration’s “electric vehicle mandate,” and working on a natural gas pipeline in Alaska that is “all set to go” and “among the largest in the world, where Japan, South Korea and other nations want to be our partner with investment of trillions of dollars each.” The natural gas pipeline is a key component of a larger project being prioritized by President Trump to produce and ship liquified natural gas (LNG) from Alaska to Japan and other Asian allies.
President Trump teased that “later this week,” he will “take historic action to dramatically expand production of critical minerals and rare earths here in the USA.” He read a letter he received earlier in the day from President Zelensky stating that Ukraine is “ready to sign” an agreement on minerals and security “at any time that is convenient.” He also repeated his interest in acquiring or otherwise partnering with Greenland, which he described as “very important” for military, national, and international security, and which offers a wealth of critical minerals.
The America First energy dominance agenda portions of President Trump’s address continued to build on the foundation he began to lay on the day of his inauguration with the following executive orders and memoranda:
- Unleashing American Energy
- Declaring a National Energy Emergency
- Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies
- Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas of the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects
- Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential
- Unleashing Prosperity through Deregulation
- Establishing the National Energy Dominance Council
These executive orders and executive actions establish specific directives that the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other agencies are tasked with implementing in service of President Trump’s America First energy dominance agenda. As President Trump did in his address to Congress, his executive orders and executive actions similarly focus on elevating domestic oil and natural gas production, reducing regulations impacting energy production, and prioritizing critical minerals. In addition, they encourage energy production on federal lands, direct agencies to use emergency authorities to produce energy and build energy infrastructure, make permitting processes more efficient, reconsider what is required and permissible in environmental reviews, and review funding and contracts associated with implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act.
President Trump has already begun to implement these executive orders and memoranda. He has established the National Energy Dominance Council, conditionally approved a project to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to allies overseas, and lifted the previous administration’s ban on oil and gas development on 625 million acres in federal waters. President Trump’s executive actions will be further supported by Republicans in Congress who will seek to use their legislative power, oversight and investigations prerogatives, and control of the gavel at committees to support the President’s America First energy dominance agenda.
There is much more to come—and if the last few weeks are any guide, change will continue to come fast and furious. The firm would be delighted to help you navigate opportunities and challenges in legal, regulatory, and policy matters in Washington, D.C., as they reshape the energy, environment, and natural resources sectors for the foreseeable future.
FOOTNOTES
1 President Donald J. Trump, Transcript of President Donald Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress, March 4, 2025, as transcribed and published by the Associated Press on March 5, 2025 at 10:05 AM EST at https://apnews.com/article/trump-speech-congress-transcript-751b5891a3265ff1e5c1409c391fef7c
