President Trump signed 200 executive orders on his first day in office–some in front of his many supporters in the Capital One Arena and others during a press conference in the Oval Office. He is mandating that the federal workforce return to their offices rather than working from home or other remote facilities and begin work on his agenda, in some cases, providing specific dates for reporting back on progress. His first-day executive orders included many on energy, including declaring a national energy emergency, opening Alaska to energy development that his predecessor had precluded, revoking Biden’s electric vehicle goals, any reviewing onshore and offshore wind energy, and withdrawing the United States from the U.N. Paris Accord that fueled much of Biden’s climate agenda. President Trump rightly wants energy markets to be allowed to work and consumers to decide what vehicle, appliance, or heating source is best for their needs.
Executive Order Declaring a National Energy Emergency
President Trump declared a ‘national energy emergency’ to bolster domestic fossil fuel production and reduce energy costs. This initiative is part of his administration’s agenda to overturn policies that prioritized green energy above more affordable and reliable alternatives. The national energy emergency will allow Trump to use executive powers to roll back Biden’s regulations, develop new energy infrastructure, and lower consumer energy prices. By declaring an emergency, the government can use special powers, such as the Defense Production Act, to speed up the production and distribution of energy, prioritizing energy projects and resources. This will help projects meet rapidly increasing electricity demand, which is being made worse by policies promoting intermittent renewable energy, which is leading to skyrocketing electricity rates in places such as California.
Alaska’s Executive Order
This executive order supports further progress on the Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Project, removes resource restrictions within the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska (NPR-A) and other parts of the state, protects Alaskans’ hunting and trapping rights on federal lands, restores unlawfully canceled oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), advances the Ambler Access Project and the King Cove Road allowing residents access to medical care, revokes Biden administration regulations that imposed the 2001 Roadless Rule on Alaska and removes hurdles preventing Alaska Native people from receiving the lands they are due.
Executive Order to Cut Environmental Regulations
President Trump signed an executive order focused on reducing regulatory burdens, particularly those related to electric vehicles and household efficiency standards. The order seeks to streamline the approval process for energy projects and eliminate what the administration views as unnecessary red tape. The order lifts the moratorium on new licenses to export liquefied natural gas (LNG), directing the U.S. Department of Energy to resume processing applications for new LNG export permits, reversing the pause implemented by former President Biden in early 2024.
Executive Order to Withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement
President Trump signed an executive order directing the United States to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, which will relieve the United States from the international climate commitments that the Biden administration used to support its climate agenda that are economically burdensome. He noted that U.S. citizens bear much of the cost and burden of the agreement while China and others are free to produce energy unencumbered by U.N. strictures. The withdrawal process will take one year.
Executive Order on Wind Energy
President Trump’s executive order on wind energy, titled “Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of The Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects,” deals with both offshore and onshore wind on federal lands and waters. President Trump ordered all federal agencies to immediately assess “the environmental impact of onshore and offshore wind projects upon wildlife, including, but not limited to, birds and marine mammals.” Under the Biden Administration, agencies were ordered to speed up the deployment of wind projects on federal lands and waters, and fees were reduced by as much as 80% for using federal lands for such purposes.
It also addressed “the impacts on ocean currents and wind patterns, effects on energy costs for Americans –- especially those who can least afford it –and to ensure that the United States is able to maintain a robust fishing industry for future generations.” Offshore wind is extremely expensive—over 3 times the cost of onshore wind and over double the cost of gas combined cycle technology. Further, these cost estimates do not account for the need for backup power when the wind does not blow. The politically preferred backup technology is very expensive and huge batteries, whose facilities have caught on fire in California and Arizona.
Existing leases are not affected outright, but they are under review. The order states that the “Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Attorney General, as needed, shall conduct a comprehensive review of the ecological, economic, and environmental necessity of terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases, identifying any legal bases for such removal, and submit a report with recommendations to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy.”
The executive order would halt the development of the controversial 1,200-megawatt Lava Ridge wind project in Idaho. The project, slated to be built on federal land near the Minidoka National Historic Site, has fierce opposition from both the government and the Japanese-American community in Idaho. The project spans 104,000 acres and includes 241 turbines with a maximum height of 660 feet. Opponents are concerned about its effects on recreation, ranching, wildlife, and the preservation of Minidoka National Historic Site—a site of a former incarceration camp for Japanese-Americans during World War II.
Conclusion
President Trump had a very busy day on January 20, 2025, for his inauguration festivities and to begin reversing the disastrous energy policies of the Biden administration. He issued 200 executive orders, many geared toward increasing affordable and reliable energy for American consumers and allowing them to choose the vehicle and the appliances that best support their needs. President Trump recognizes that the best path forward is to allow markets to determine the most economical, efficient, and reliable energy sources for American consumers and businesses. Many Biden policies that need to be overturned will not be as easy as writing an executive order. Still, his administration is well on its way toward the goal with the right direction clearly outlined in his 200 executive orders. The new president managed to accomplish this after his inauguration at noon, signing many executive orders at the Capitol One Arena, where inaugural celebrants were gathered after extreme cold forced the first indoor inaugural since Ronald Reagan’s second one in 1985.
