Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Pushes the Reset Button on America’s Energy Regulations

TLDR

This is a “fact” sheet for an executive order that implements a regulatory sunset mechanism requiring agencies to add expiration dates to energy regulations. Existing regulations will expire by September 30, 2026 unless renewed, while new regulations will expire after five years. The order exempts permitting regimes and claims to promote innovation through forced regulatory review, though critics argue it may create regulatory uncertainty, impose administrative burdens, favor extraction over protections, and shift power from Congress to the executive branch.

This is a “fact sheet” for an executive order that implements a regulatory sunset mechanism requiring agencies to insert expiration dates into energy regulations. Existing regulations will expire by September 30, 2026 unless actively renewed, while new regulations will expire after five years. The order exempts permitting regimes and claims to promote innovation by forcing continuous regulatory review.

The executive order and fact sheet claims present several problematic assumptions and likely consequences:

The automatic expiration mechanism creates regulatory uncertainty that may actually inhibit long-term energy investments. While marketed as promoting innovation, the order more likely disrupts regulatory continuity that businesses rely on for planning.

The assumption that regulations from past decades have no current value overlooks how many foundational energy regulations remain relevant despite their age. Regulatory frameworks evolve incrementally through amendments rather than wholesale replacements.

The “zero-based regulation” approach imposes significant administrative burdens on agencies that must review all existing regulations within a compressed timeframe. This likely creates resource constraints that favor regulatory elimination over thoughtful review.

By exempting permitting regimes while targeting other regulations, the order creates an imbalanced regulatory landscape favoring extraction over protections. This selective approach undermines the claimed focus on modernization.

The characterization of bureaucracy as inherently opposed to deregulation misrepresents the role of regulatory agencies, which implement congressional mandates rather than independently creating regulations. Many regulations stem from statutory requirements that agencies cannot simply eliminate.

The order’s focus on “energy abundance” over efficiency runs counter to market trends where energy innovation increasingly emphasizes both production and efficiency improvements. This false dichotomy seems designed to justify regulatory rollbacks rather than meaningful modernization.

By imposing automatic expirations, the order effectively shifts power from Congress to the executive branch, allowing the administration to nullify regulations without formal rulemaking processes or congressional oversight.