It may have escaped most of the mainstream media’s attention, but Trump administration officials met at the White House on June 4 to celebrate “500 Days of Greatness” with the president. Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator E. Scott Pruitt both highlighted their agencies’ respective progress in reducing regulatory overreach and delays.
“In the first 500 days of President Trump’s administration, the Department of the Interior has relit the pilot light of American energy production, increasing energy revenue by more than $1 billion in our first year and approving key energy infrastructure projects,” said Zinke. “And we’re just getting started.”
In a fact sheet issued following the event, DOI noted that dozens of burdensome regulations have been repealed or modified, expedited timelines have been ordered for permitting under the National Environmental Policy Act, and reasonable deadlines and page limits have been established for environmental impact studies.
Establishment of a “one federal decision” framework for processing infrastructure project permit applications also clearly matters to the oil and gas community, which has dealt with approval delays for proposed pipeline and marine transportation projects.
When it comes to meeting Trump’s goal of achieving American energy dominance, DOI said US crude oil production is projected to be a record 10.7 million b/d in 2018. The US is a net natural gas exporter for the first time in 60 years, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain has been opened for possible exploration and development, it added.
EPA released an energy independence report on Oct. 25 that outlined ways the agency was implementing Trump’s executive order to curb regulatory burdens and promote energy production and economic growth while protecting human health and the environment.
Ending ‘sue-and-settle’
Reflecting his pledge to make EPA follow the rule of law, Pruitt also moved to end the agency’s settling lawsuits brought by environmental organizations to save further court costs. “The days of regulation through litigation are over,” he said on Oct. 16.
“We will no longer go behind closed doors and use consent decrees and settlement agreements to resolve lawsuits filed against the agency by special interest groups where doing so would circumvent the regulatory process set forth by Congress,” Pruitt said. “Additionally, gone are the days of routinely paying tens of thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees to these groups with which we swiftly settle.”
He also proposed a rule on Apr. 30 aimed at strengthening the science EPA uses in formulating regulations by requiring that underlying scientific information be publicly available. The rule would be consistent with major scientific journals’ data access requirements. EPA will accept public comments on it through Aug. 16.