- President-elect Trump plans to sign executive orders boosting oil and gas production and declaring a national energy emergency to increase fossil fuel output.
- Trump’s energy agenda includes rolling back clean energy subsidies, halting offshore wind projects, and reversing Biden-era drilling bans.
President-elect Donald Trump is preparing to sign several executive orders focused on energy policy in the early hours following his inauguration. He plans to declare a national energy emergency as part of a broader effort to boost oil and gas production.
According to reports from Bloomberg, the emergency declaration will grant the president extraordinary powers to manage the transportation of crude oil and potentially influence how electricity is generated and transmitted across the country.
Trump’s initial actions will not be limited to energy. The Wall Street Journal reports that his first wave of executive orders will also target immigration policies, government hiring practices, and border security.
Among the planned actions is a declaration of a national emergency concerning the U.S.-Mexico border, which would redirect funding to infrastructure projects to secure the border. Additionally, Trump aims to reverse several policies from the previous administration, including federal bans on land and offshore oil and gas drilling that President Biden enacted.
The energy-related executive orders are expected to include measures to ramp up fossil fuel production, and Trump has previously stated his intention to expand energy output significantly.
On the campaign trail, he emphasised the need for increased energy capacity, mentioning that the country would need “double the energy” it currently produces. He also suggested that emergency powers could facilitate the construction of large-scale energy plants, including artificial intelligence (AI) plants.
Another key aspect of Trump’s energy agenda includes cutting subsidies for clean energy technologies, such as electric vehicles (EVs), and halting offshore wind projects’ development. Trump has often criticised wind power, calling it an “economic and environmental disaster,” and has indicated that he would take steps to curb new wind turbine installations, especially on federal lands.