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The Trump regulation roll back status The president has to operate within a framework of laws designed to ensure a public process in the setting of administrative code ALAN BAILEY Petroleum News
President Donald Trump has made no secret of his antipathy for government regulation, in particular of business and industrial activity. And on Jan. 30, not long after his inauguration, he set a regulatory tone for his administration by signing an executive order requiring two existing federal regulations to be eliminated for every new regulation introduced.
But how much leeway do the president and his administration have in doing away with existing regulations, and what actions have the administration taken so far to reduce government red tape when it comes to the energy industries?
Under the terms of the Administrative Procedures Act a major change to regulations has to go through a formal and often lengthy process, including a public review, in the same manner as the introduction of a new regulation. However, there is a statute, the Congressional Review Act, which enables Congress to nullify any regulation that has gone into effect within the previous 60 days. Upon passage by Congress, a nullification under this act simply needs a presidential signature.
WOTUS regulations As an action to potentially go through the formal process of changing or withdrawing a regulation, at the end of February Trump ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to review new waters of the United States, or WOTUS regulations, introduced by the Obama administration. A number of entities, including the state of Alaska and Alaska lawmakers, have criticized this rule as an example of federal overreach into state affairs.
In a different twist on the regulation amendment approach, on March 15 Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced that EPA intends to reconsider the final determination of light-vehicle greenhouse gas emissions standards that EPA issued on Jan. 12. In this instance, the final determination represented the second step of a two-stage process of introducing the standards - EPA had determined not to change the standards set in the first stage of the process, given that vehicle manufacturers had been already been meeting or in some cases exceeding the standards. However, the deadline for making the final determination for the regulation was not until April 1, 2018, thus providing ample time to make a new final determination, EPA says.
It also appears that the administration is preparing to make changes to regulations introduced by the Obama administration requiring the disclosure of chemicals used in oil or gas well hydraulic fracturing operations. On March 16 the Associated Press reported that the administration has withdrawn from a lawsuit challenging the new regulations. The Department of the Interior told the Associated Press that it is going to submit a new fracking rule.
Congressional Review Act There have been a number of energy-related actions involving the Congressional Review Act.
On Feb. 14 the president signed legislation removing regulations under the Dodd-Frank Act, requiring oil and gas and mining companies to disclose financial transactions with foreign governments. And on Feb. 16 the president’s signature went on another piece of legislation cancelling the stream protection rule that the Obama administration had introduced, to require coal mines to test and monitor the quality of water in streams that might be impacted by mining operations.
Another bill, annulling the Bureau of Land Management’s so-called Planning 2.0 rule, regulations for activity planning on federal lands, has been passed by Congress but awaits the president’s signature. BLM has argued that this rule will improve planning efficiency, but there has been criticism of the rule in Alaska on the grounds that it gives too much authority to the federal government over decisions impacting Alaska’s interests.
Another bill under the Congressional Review Act, a bill to cancel an Obama administration rule limiting methane emissions from oil and gas operations, has been passed by the House of Representatives but has not yet been passed by the Senate.
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