On January 20, 2025, the Trump administration issued a suite of Executive Orders and memoranda signaling a dramatic shift in American energy and environmental policy.  Collectively these actions, among a historically large array of “Day One” orders issued by the administration, aim to stimulate domestic energy production (with a focus on oil, natural gas, coal, hydropower, biofuels, critical minerals, and nuclear energy resources), expand energy transmission infrastructure, enlarge refining capacity, and streamline environmental permitting and review requirements for energy production and infrastructure projects while canceling Biden-era domestic climate policies, disengaging from international climate agreements, and curtailing leasing and permitting for offshore and onshore wind energy projects.

In conjunction with these Executive Orders and memoranda, the Trump administration carried out a sweeping revocation of Biden-era Executive Orders, including orders relating to energy policy and environmental regulation, climate initiatives, promoting electric vehicles, environmental justice, the withdrawal of areas of the Outer Continental Shelf from oil and gas leasing, and the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

President Trump also issued a Day One memorandum implementing a regulatory freeze requiring agencies to refrain from proposing or issuing any new rule and withdraw rules that have been finalized but not yet been published in the Federal Register, until those rules are approved by the new agency head. The memorandum also directs agency heads to consider postponing for 60 days the effective date of any rules that have been published or issued but have not taken effect, for the purpose of reviewing any questions of fact, law, and policy that the rules may raise.  Some Biden-era rules relating to energy and the environment appear to be subject to this freeze, however, the overall impact of the freeze appears to be limited.

More detailed reviews of these actions are available at the links below.

• Energy Policy
• Regulatory Freeze 
• Key Environmental Regulatory, Permitting, and Enforcement Implications 

Additional actions by President Trump on energy and environmental issues are expected, and legal challenges are practically certain as federal agencies take concrete steps to implement these directives. We are tracking these matters closely and will issue future Alerts as significant developments arise.