New Trump energy, environment chiefs vow to promote oil and gas
The new secretaries of the US Energy and Interior departments and the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) vowed to achieve President Trump’s vision for “American energy dominance” by prioritizing most energy sources (except wind and solar), slashing regulations, quickly approving LNG permits, streamlining and fast-tracking permitting, gutting greenhouse gas regulations, and allowing greater access to develop oil and gas on federal lands and waters.
US Department of Energy
New Department of Energy (DOE) chief Chris Wright, former Liberty Energy president, promised to boost energy production, rather than seek to lower greenhouse gas emissions, he said in a statement Feb. 6, 2025. “Net-zero [carbon future] policies raise energy costs for American families and businesses, threaten the reliability of our energy system, and undermine our energy and national security,” he said, adding that the policies have also achieved "precious little in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.”
DOE will “return to regular order” on issuing LNG permits after the Biden administration paused any new LNG export authorizations Wright said. DOE has already resumed consideration of pending LNG export applications, he noted.
Wright said DOE would refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, grow “baseload and dispatchable” (non-wind and solar) generation, streamline permitting of energy infrastructure, and conduct a "comprehensive review" of the department’s appliance efficiency standards program to prioritize “consumer choice and affordability.”
DOE will focus its R&D budget on "fossil fuels, advanced nuclear, geothermal, and hydropower," he said.
US Department of the Interior
New Interior Secretary Doug Burgum Feb. 3, 2025, issued six executive orders designed to execute Trump’s energy vision by maximizing domestic energy production and making it faster and easier for companies to drill on federal lands. The former North Dakota governor’s orders detail how the Interior Department (DOI) intends to enact Trump’s day-one executive orders.
One order directs immediate compliance with Trump’s revocations of the Biden administration’s “wrongful withdrawals" of acreage in federal waters of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to new oil and gas leasing. Another seeks to boost fossil fuel development on federal and state lands in Alaska. “The Secretary directs an immediate review of all punitive restrictions that have targeted resource development in Alaska,” DOI said in a statement.
Burgum said he had notified all employees that the “ban has been unbanned” and directed them to “take all actions to expedite the leasing of the OCS for oil and gas development. Trump’s first-day orders also blocked federal wind lease sales.
He instructed Interior Department employees to find emergency and legal authorities to speed project development and permitting and to eliminate burdensome regulations in part by reviewing appropriations under the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act laws.
As part of the Trump administration’s deregulation effort, Burgum vowed to “eliminate at least 10 existing regulations for every new one introduced and ensure that the costs of new regulations are offset by removing the costs of previous ones."
US Environmental Protection Agency
New Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lee Zeldin Feb. 4, 2025, unveiled a six-pillar plan “to achieve the agency’s mission while energizing the greatness of the American economy." He said EPA’s priorities include “restoring American energy dominance” as well as permitting reform, cooperative federalism and cross-agency partnership. “Any business that wants to invest in America should be able to do so without having to face years-long, uncertain, and costly permitting processes that deter them from doing business in our country in the first place,” Zeldin said.
He also vowed to make the US the “artificial intelligence capital of the world” and “protect and bring back” American auto-manufacturing jobs.
Cathy Landry | Washington Correspondent
Cathy Landry has worked over 20 years as a journalist, including 17 years as an energy reporter with Platts News Service (now S&P Global) in Washington and London.
She has served as a wire-service reporter, general news and sports reporter for local newspapers and a feature writer for association and company publications.
Cathy has deep public policy experience, having worked 15 years in Washington energy circles.
She earned a master’s degree in government from The Johns Hopkins University and studied newspaper journalism and psychology at Syracuse University.
