New Era for American Energy

Mark Green
Posted January 29, 2025

American energy leadership was strengthened by President Trump’s Day 1 executive orders.  

The big items:

• Leveraging Our Natural Resources: Opening access to oil and natural gas resources on federal lands and waters – including development in Alaska.  

• Bolstering U.S. Geopolitical Strength: Lifting of the Biden administration’s misguided pause on permitting for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects.  

• Reforming Our Permitting System: Streamlining of federal permitting processes for needed infrastructure projects, including pipelines.

• Protecting Consumer Vehicle Choice: Americans' freedom to choose the vehicles that best suit their budget and lifestyle was safeguarded, countering older policies that effectively mandated the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). 

The first three points above strengthen American energy leadership.

Energy Security – Fully harnessing domestic oil and natural gas resources means reliable energy supply in the future, which is the foundation of U.S. energy security.

Energy Influence – American LNG helps the security of allies, giving them supply options in a world where energy can be weaponized by adversaries. Energy exports also benefit the U.S. trade balance while providing domestic job and economic benefits.

Energy Accessibility – We must reform the federal permitting system to advance needed infrastructure projects to bring oil and natural gas and products made from them to consumers.

On the fourth point, Americans’ freedom to choose the vehicles they drive has been under attack by Washington mandates. Rejecting those mandates is protecting a basic American freedom. 

All of these are consistent with recommendations in API’s Five-Point Policy Roadmap.  

API President and CEO Mike Sommers on Fox News: 

“These executive orders are exactly what the doctor ordered. We need more energy in this country to supply the needs of the American people, which are only growing. As we see new data centers being built out, we have to win the war on artificial intelligence. We're going to need more and more energy in this country. So, what President Trump did yesterday is exactly what America needs right now.” 

The orders reflect an about-face for American energy from previous policy under the last administration, which generally sought to restrict oil and natural gas development and use. Let’s explore the orders in greater detail. 

• Offshore Ban Revoked: President Trump’s executive order reversed the Biden administration’s 11^th-hour decision to withdraw 625 million offshore acres from future oil and natural gas development in the Arctic, Atlantic, Pacific and Eastern Gulf. (API and five states filed a legal challenge to the Biden ban last week.)

• Reopening Access in Alaska: The president’s executive order directs expedited energy development permits in Alaska and rescinds the Biden administration’s cancellation of oil leases in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that were awarded by the first Trump administration in January 2021.

• American LNG Resumes: The president’s executive order directed the U.S. Energy Department to restart reviews of applications for approvals of LNG export projects “as expeditiously as possible” and that in assessing the “public interest” of any particular application to “consider the economic and employment impacts to the United States and the impact to the security of allies and partners that would result from granting the application.”

• Infrastructure Breakthroughs: President Trump’s executive order directs officials to streamline the federal permitting process for infrastructure projects. Regulators are to provide guidance on reforming the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and to propose rescinding the Council on Environmental Quality’s NEPA regulations implemented under the previous administration. The purpose is to “facilitate the permitting and construction of interstate energy transportation and other critical energy infrastructure, including, but not limited to, pipelines, particularly in regions of the Nation that have lacked such development in recent years.”

• Consumers Win: The executive order promotes “true consumer choice” in Americans’ ability to buy the kind of vehicle that suits their preferences. The order establishes that U.S. policy will aim to address “government-imposed market distortions that favor EVs over other technologies and effectively mandate their purchase … by rendering other types of vehicles unaffordable.” 

Bottom Line: America is the world’s leading oil and natural gas producer, but that leadership has been put at risk by wrong policies and red tape – restricting resource access, jeopardizing the trust of U.S. allies, delaying needed infrastructure, and getting between consumers and their vehicle choices. Day 1 of the new administration signaled the arrival of a new energy order that can make our country more energy secure, boost the economy and benefit consumers.  

Next, the legislative and regulatory details.

Sommers:

"Americans sent a clear message at the ballot box, and President Trump is answering the call on Day One – U.S. energy dominance will drive our nation’s economic and security agenda. Directing regulators to expand access to resources, lift the LNG pause, streamline permitting processes and roll back heavy-handed vehicle mandates will help deliver a stronger, more prosperous energy future for all Americans. This is a new day for American energy, and we applaud President Trump for moving swiftly to chart a new path where U.S. oil and natural gas are embraced, not restricted.”