President Trump should revoke these 7 energy and environment executive orders

On Monday, President Donald Trump will begin his second term. He will be very busy in part because he needs to start undoing President Joe Biden’s flawed policies. This is especially true when it comes to energy and environmental policy.

The following are seven energy and environment executive orders that President Trump should revoke from the outset:

1) Executive Order 13990, Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis, January 20, 2021

On his first day in office, President Biden issued this executive order that undid many of Trump’s first term energy and environment policies. This is the executive order that revoked the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline and established an Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases.

2) Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, January 27, 2021

This is a sweeping executive order that helped establish Biden’s whole-of-government approach to climate change, rejoined the Paris Agreement, established the National Climate Task Force, created “the goal of conserving at least 30 percent of our lands and oceans by 2030” (30×30), and set the goal of net-zero global greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century.

3) Executive Order 14030, Climate Related Financial Risk, May 20, 2021

This executive order required the Office of Management and Budget to develop a government-wide strategy on the “measurement, assessment, mitigation, and disclosure of climate-related financial risk to Federal Government programs, assets, and liabilities,” and it addresses climate-related financial risk in the context of federal lending, underwriting, and procurement.

4) Executive Order 14037, Strengthening American Leadership in Clean Cars and Trucks, August 5, 2021

This executive order established the Biden administration’s goal of helping to kill off gas-powered cars and getting people to drive electric vehicles. The executive order establishes “a goal that 50 percent of all new passenger cars and light trucks sold in 2030 be zero-emission vehicles, including battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, or fuel cell electric vehicles.” As it turned out, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) de facto electric vehicle mandate was even more aggressive. According to the EPA, by 2032, 56 percent of new light-duty vehicles sold will be battery electric vehicles and 13 percent will be plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

5) Executive Order 14057, Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability, December 8, 2021

This executive order set a government-wide policy on federal procurement and operations to achieve the net-zero emissions goal by 2050. Here’s just some of its goals for the federal government:

– “100 percent carbon pollution-free electricity on a net annual basis by 2030, including 50 percent 24/7 carbon pollution-free electricity.”

– “100 percent zero-emission vehicle acquisitions by 2035, including 100 percent zero-emission light-duty vehicle acquisitions by 2027; and

– “A net-zero emissions building portfolio by 2045, including a 50 percent emissions reduction by 2032.”

6) Executive Order 14082, Implementation of the Energy and Infrastructure Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. September 12, 2022

Besides laying out a bunch of myths about what the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) would do, this executive order lays out Biden’s priorities in how the IRA should be implemented. These priorities include “driving progress to achieve the climate goals of the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 50-52 percent below 2005 levels in 2030,” and “advancing environmental and climate justice through an all-of-government approach.” 

7) Executive Order 14096, Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All, April 21, 2023

Here is an excerpt from an op-ed I co-authored with Project 21’s Donna Jackson about this executive order:

Union jobs, sports fields, and tree cover. What do they have in common? President Joe Biden wants to promote them through his new executive order on environmental justice.

He is using the “environmental justice” rallying cry as a pretext to push a much broader agenda, such as undermining conventional energy sources and overhauling the federal regulatory system to ramp up costly, intrusive regulations…

Whatever “environmental justice” might mean to the Biden administration, there’s hardly justice when the federal government’s own environmental policies make it more difficult for low-income families and all Americans to access affordable energy while limiting the personal choices available to meet basic needs.

Conclusion

President Trump has been saddled with a wide range of flawed energy and environment policies that Biden tried to bake into how the federal government operates. It is critical for Trump to revoke problematic executive orders and presidential memoranda and for his administration to work diligently to remove what has been “baked into” the government. The administration will also have to undo many harmful rules as well.

There’s certainly a lot to do, but Trump and his administration should be able to hit the ground running and make the changes necessary to undo the harm from Biden, while simultaneously pushing an agenda that unleashes American energy, protects the environment in a sensible way, and prioritizes the prosperity and well-being of Americans over environmental and climate extremism.