Executive Action Review: The First 100 Days of Trump’s Environmental Policy

We are now more than 100 days into the second Donald Trump administration, and the still-new administration has been impressively—quite possibly, unprecedentedly—active. According to the Federal Register, President Trump has signed 143 Executive Orders (EOs) since taking office on January 20, 2025. In all of 2017, President Trump signed a total of 55 EOs.

President Joe Biden, on the other hand, signed 85 EOs in calendar years 2022 through 2025. During his first year in office, President Biden signed 77 EOs total. President Harry Truman is the last President who signed more EOs in a single year than President Trump, with 148 Executive Orders in 1946—79 years ago. President Trump will, no doubt, surpass this total over the remainder of the first year of his second term, but he may not surpass the 290 EOs signed by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1942 (or 381 EOs signed by Roosevelt in 1941), back when the “first 100 day” marker of any presidential administration took root.

Readers interested in environmental law and policy might be asking how much of this avalanche of executive action applies to their area of interest, and how so. This post will walk through a majority of the EOs that touch on environmental issues and answer two questions: What do these EOs say? And what do they mean for the regulated community?

Executive Orders: Day-One

Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions (EO 14148): This EO revoked more than 75 EOs and other executive actions issued by former President Biden. Of particular note, this EO revoked:

• EO 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, and a follow-on EO 14091, Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government
• I discussed these EOs in a previous blog post for the Society.
• EO 13990, Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis
• EO 14082, Implementation of the Energy and Infrastructure Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
• This EO directed federal agencies to prioritize Environmental Justice (EJ) when implementing the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), President Biden’s signature legislative achievement.

This day-one EO also revoked President Biden’s EOs related to EJ enforcement, sustainability, and climate change, including:

• EO 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad
• EO 14052, Implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
• EO 14057, Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability
• EO 14096, Revitalizing our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All

Declaring a National Energy Emergency (EO 14156): This EO declared inadequate the United States’ energy resources and critical mineral identification, leasing, development, production, transportation, and generation capacity. It states that an affordable domestic energy supply is fundamental to national and economic security. It authorizes agencies to exercise emergency authorities to facilitate the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, and generation of domestic energy resources.

The EO also directs agencies to expedite the completion of infrastructure, energy, environmental, and natural resources projects and to facilitate the supply, refining, and transportation of energy in and through the West Coast, the Northeast, and Alaska. It further directs the Secretary of the Army to identify “energy supply projects that may be subject to emergency treatment” under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. Section 404 permits the Army Corps of Engineers to bypass its typical approvals and timelines in order to expedite projects it deems subject to “emergency treatment.”

Moreover, the EO directs agencies to utilize maximum authority under the Endangered Species Act’s (ESA) emergency consultation regulations to facilitate enhancements to energy supply and to provide status reports every 30 days during the declared emergency. The EO also directs the ESA committee to evaluate the ESA and the Marine Mammal Protection Act in order to identify potential reforms needed to overcome obstacles to effectuating the energy initiative.

Unleashing American Energy (EO 14154): In this EO, President Trump proposed eliminating President Biden’s electric vehicle mandate, in part by terminating California’s emissions regulation pre-emption waiver that effectively limits the sale of internal combustion engines under the Clean Air Act (CAA), in addition to eliminating EV credits and incentives. The President also directed federal agencies to pause appropriated fund disbursements under the IRA and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and instructed the Secretary of Energy to resume reviewing applications for approvals of liquefied natural gas export (LNG) projects, which had been paused under President Biden.

The same order instructed the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to provide guidance on implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and proposed rescinding CEQ’s NEPA regulations. These actions have been accomplished, and paired with recent federal court decisions (e.g., Marin Audubon (“The CEQ regulations . . . are ultra vires.”) and Iowa v. CEQ (“For the past forty years all three branches of government operated under the erroneous assumption that CEQ had authority [to issue its own regulations]”), they will likely expedite the federal government’s review of permits.

This EO also disbanded the Biden White House’s “Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases” (IWG) and withdrew all IWG guidance and memoranda, including its estimates of the social costs of greenhouse gas emissions. President Trump additionally instructed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator to issue guidance addressing the social cost of greenhouse gases and to consider eliminating the social cost of carbon calculation from federal permitting and regulatory decision-making altogether.

The order also directs the EPA Administrator, in collaboration with other agency leaders, to submit recommendations to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on the legality and current applicability of EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding for greenhouse gases under the CAA—the predicate for EPA authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. EPA has submitted its recommendations to OMB, and further action is to follow.

Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential (EO 14153): This EO opens Alaska for development of energy and natural resource projects, including prioritization of LNG. The order rescinds all Biden-era policies that halted oil and gas leasing or canceled leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and instructs the heads of federal agencies to issue all permits necessary for exploration, development, and production of oil and gas in this area. To facilitate this effort, the order reinstates environmental impact statements and the record of decision relating to Alaskan oil and gas from the previous Trump Administration and rescinds Bureau of Land Management guidance related to protection of subsistence resource values in special areas.

The EO revokes prior policies regarding Alaska Native lands and directs the Department of the Interior to review guidance regarding the placement of Alaska Native lands into trust. The order denies the pending request to establish an Indigenous sacred site in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It further directs the Department of the Interior to consider the Alaskan cultural significance of hunting and fishing to effectuate the same hunting and fishing opportunities on federal lands that are available on state lands.

Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements (EO 14162): This EO requires the United States Ambassador to the United Nations to submit a formal written notification of the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). It also requires the UN Ambassador to immediately submit written formal notification of the United States’ withdrawal from any other similar commitment made under the UNFCC and to join the Secretary of State and Secretary of the Treasury in immediately ceasing or revoking any financial commitments made by the United States under the UNFCC.

Additionally, this EO revokes and rescinds the United States International Climate Finance Plan and instructs the Director of the OMB to issue guidance for rescinding the freezing of funds under the climate finance plan. It also requires a bevy of federal agencies (including EPA) to submit a report detailing agency actions to revoke or rescind policies implemented to advance the United States International Climate Finance Plan. These actions have been taken, and to the extent they are not immediately effective, they are being implemented by the administration.

Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing (EO 14151): This EO terminates federal initiatives related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and EJ. It terminates all EJ offices, positions, and plans that were developed under the Biden Administration. It also mandates that all department heads give the Director of OMB a list of agency EJ programs, services, and activities and a list of all federal grantees who have received federal funding to provide or advance EJ. The order aims to eliminate EJ considerations from EPA’s—and other agencies’—policymaking and enforcement evaluations and decisions. EPA has already taken steps toward these goals by publishing interim guidance on implementing its 2024-2027 National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives. As a result, some states may seek to conduct their own EJ enforcement and policymaking during the second Trump Administration and perhaps beyond.

Executive Orders: Days 2–75

Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation (EO 14192): This EO imposes a ten-to-one regulatory repeal requirement (including memoranda, guidance documents, and interagency agreements) and aims to ensure that the cost of all new regulations finalized during the federal government’s current fiscal year is “significantly less than zero.” The cost of new regulations will be offset by savings from repealing regulations. The OMB Director is to provide department heads with guidance that builds upon this EO. The order further revokes the Biden Administration’s revisions to OMB Circular No. A-4 and reinstates the prior version of Circular A-4 which had been in place since 2003. That circular outlines OMB’s best practices for conducting cost-benefit analysis, which is integral to rulemaking across the federal government.

Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies (EO 14215): This EO requires all executive agencies, including “independent” agencies, to submit for review significant regulatory actions (>$100 million) to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) before publication in the Federal Register. Independent agencies began submitting their significant regulatory actions to OIRA (some for the first time) in April. To assist, the OMB Director will publish guidance for such agencies on how to comply with OIRA standard procedures, such as through 12866 meetings. The OMB Director will also establish performance standards and management objectives for independent agency heads and periodically report to the President on the performance of such individuals’ efficiency. This EO is intended to ensure that agencies are accountable to the elected head of the executive branch pursuant to Article II’s “vesting clause,” which says that the “executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.”

Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s “DOGE” Deregulatory Initiative (EO 14219): This EO requires each agency head to create a list of regulations that may: (1) be unconstitutional; (2) provide an unduly expansive reading of a statute; (3) violate the non-delegation doctrine; (4) run afoul of the Supreme Court’s holding in West Virginia v. EPA (i.e., statutory silence is not an implicit delegation of authority); (5) impose significant costs upon private parties without commensurate public benefits; (6) impose undue burdens on small business; and (7) harm the national interest. These lists were due to the OIRA Administrator in April, and they will be used to guide agencies on which regulations to rescind or modify first.

The EO also terminates ongoing enforcement proceedings that do not comply with the Constitution, laws, or administration policy. It also directs agencies to preserve their limited enforcement resources by de-prioritizing actions that are based on the expansive reading of a statute (e.g., the Biden Administration’s definition of WOTUS). The EO aims to restore the Constitution’s separation of powers.

Implementing the President’s “DOGE” Cost Efficiency Initiative (EO 14222): This EO directs agency heads to build a system to record every payment issued by the agency along with a brief written justification for each payment (that can be publicly posted if at all possible). Each payment system should include a mechanism by which an agency head can rapidly review and pause payments if needed. This EO further calls upon agency heads to review all existing contracts and grants to modify or terminate payments so that they can reduce spending and promote efficiency, and to conduct a comprehensive review of their contracting policies, procedures, and personnel. Unless exempt, prior to entering into any new contracts, an agency head must issue guidance on signing new contracts or modifying existing contracts to promote government efficiency.

Establishing the National Energy Dominance Council (EO 14213): In this EO, President Trump established the National Energy Dominance Council. The Council is chaired by the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of Energy serves as Vice-Chair. Other members of the Council include the EPA Administrator and the Secretaries of State and Defense. The Council will advise the President on how to increase domestic energy production by improving the environmental permitting process, provide to the President a “National Energy Dominance Strategy,” and recommend to the President a plan to raise awareness on matters related to energy dominance (including national security concerns, regulatory constraints driving up energy costs for consumers, and American jobs supported by the energy industry).

Emergency Measures to Provide Water Resources in California and Improve Disaster Response in Certain Areas (EO 14181): This EO directs the Secretaries of Interior and Commerce to revisit a Trump-first-term record of decision governing water management in the Central Valley Project, a network of dams and reservoirs providing water to one-third of California’s agricultural land. The EO aims to maximize water delivery to Californians by, for example, expediting exemptions under the ESA for threatened and endangered species in the CVP. Such actions have been the subject of litigation in recent years. This EO also directs department heads to expeditiously provide a plan to OMB to accelerate options for housing relief for those displaced by wildfires in California and by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina.

Ending Procurement and Forced Use of Paper Straws (EO 14208): This EO directs department heads to eliminate the procurement of paper straws and otherwise ensure that paper straws are no longer provided at federal government buildings. It also states that the federal government will issue a “National Strategy to End the Use of Paper Straws” focused on the potential impacts on and implications for the paper and plastics industries. The White House fact sheet on this EO notes that paper straws contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

Establishing the President’s MAHA Commission (EO 14212): The Commission established in this EO is chaired by the Secretary of Health and Human Services and includes the EPA Administrator, Secretary of Agriculture, and several other cabinet officials. According to the EO, to address the “health crisis” in America, the Commission will examine nutrition, “environmental impacts,” overreliance on medication, and other contributing factors. This order instructs agencies to, among other things, fight childhood chronic disease by studying the American diet, including “the absorption of toxic material” and “environmental factors.” At this point, it is unclear whether or how this EO will affect environmental law and policy.

Executive Orders: Days 75-100

Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending Executive Order 14241 (EO 14261): As directed in this EO, the Interior Secretary is to designate coal as a “mineral” (defined in section 2 of Executive Order 14241 of March 20, 2025, Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production), thereby entitling coal to all the benefits of a “mineral.” Also, the Secretary of the Interior, under the Energy Act of 2020, is to determine whether metallurgical coal used in the production of steel meets the criteria to be designated as a “critical mineral,” and if so, take steps to place coal on the Interior Department’s Critical Minerals List. Further, the Secretary of the Interior is directed to end the Jewell Moratorium by ordering the publication of a notice in the Federal Register terminating the “Environmental Impact Statement Analyzing the Potential Environmental Effects from Maintaining Secretary Jewell’s Coal Leasing Moratorium.” The Interior Department took this action on April 15, 2025.

Similar to the Interior Secretary, the Secretary of Energy is to place coal—if possible, for it is used in the production of steel—on the Department of Energy’s Critical Minerals List. Further, the Energy Secretary is to accelerate the commercialization of coal technologies and, by July 7, 2025, submit an action plan to the President outlining the actions taken to accelerate coal technology deployment.

Further, by June 7, 2025, the Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, and Energy are to submit a report to the President that identifies coal resources and reserves on federal lands, and these department heads, among others, are directed to seek export opportunities for coal, and by May 8, 2025, shall identify to CEQ any existing and potential NEPA categorical exclusions by which such an agency could further the production and export of coal. Also, by June 7, 2025, the Secretaries of the Interior, Commerce, and Energy are directed to identify regions where coal-powered infrastructure can support and expand AI data centers and submit a report with their findings to the President and his staff.

Regulatory Relief for Certain Stationary Sources to Promote American Energy (Presidential Proclamation): Under the Biden administration, EPA published a final rule titled National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units Review of the Residual Risk and Technology Review. 89 Fed. Reg. 38508. This rule tightened preexisting Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) thereby making them more difficult—if not impossible—to achieve within allotted timeframes. The CAA, however, allows the President to exempt stationary sources of mercury (as well as other air pollutants) from compliance with any standard or limitation under Section 112(i)(4) for up to two years if: (1) the technology to implement the standard is not available; and (2) it is in the national security interests of the United States to do so.

In this proclamation, President Trump exempted specific sources of emissions for the first time during this administration (and in recent memory) under CAA section 112(i)(4). The exempted stationary sources subject to the MATS final rule are therefore exempt from compliance with the rule for a period of two years beyond the final rule’s compliance date (i.e., for the period beginning July 8, 2027, and concluding July 8, 2029). During this two-year exemption period, these stationary sources are subject to the compliance obligations under the current MATS, that is, the MATS standards that existed prior to the MATS final rule. Over the next several months, observers expect presidential exemption grants from various other rules finalized under the Biden administration, including relief for the iron ore, rubber, and ethylene oxide industries (among others). All of these industries are key to the success of America’s economy and national security.

Updating Permitting Technology for the 21st Century (Presidential Memorandum): This Presidential Memorandum directs all executive departments and agencies to make “maximum use of technology in environmental review and permitting processes for infrastructure projects” to improve efficiency. This includes for example, eliminating the use of paper-based application and review processes; accelerating the processing time for projects; reducing the length and increasing the accessibility of documents related to permit applications; and reducing duplicative data submissions.

This memorandum also directs CEQ, in consultation with the National Energy Dominance Council and relevant permitting agencies, to issue by May 30, 2025, a “Permitting Technology Action Plan” which will modernize the technology used for federal permitting and environmental review processes for infrastructure projects. This action plan is to include, among other things, an initial data and technology standard for permit applications and reviews under NEPA; a roadmap for creating a unified interagency permitting and environmental review data system consisting of interconnected agency systems and shared services that includes iterative development of new platforms, tools, and capabilities, key investments and decision points for consolidating digital infrastructure, and resulting outcomes for environmental review and permitting; and a timeline for agencies to accomplish the activities outlined in the action plan.

By July 28, 2025, CEQ and other officials as requested must adopt and begin implementing the CEQ data and technology standard and minimum functional requirements (mentioned above) in new and existing agency environmental review and permitting systems to facilitate efficient environmental reviews. And by April 30, 2025, CEQ is to establish and lead an interagency “Permitting Innovation Center” that will design and test prototype tools that could be implemented pursuant to the action plan discussed above for NEPA reviews and other environmental permits.  

Looking Ahead

President Trump’s second term is off to a busy start, and the EOs he has signed are already reshaping environmental law and policy. Over the last 100+ days, we have seen the President’s cabinet begin to implement his administration’s day-one priorities, and this will continue over the next important time horizon, the completion of the first year of President Trump’s second term—and after that, through the midterm elections. In the interim, environmental attorneys can expect to see the administration continue to implement the above discussed executive actions (as well as future executive actions) as quickly as practicable. This will continue to generate interim wins for the President while protecting human health and the environment.