President Trump's executive order on "energy independence," annotated by an environmental law expert

This executive order is designed to do two key things: first, to undo the Obama administration’s significant achievements in climate policy — appealing to the minority of Americans who share President Trump’s view that climate change is a “hoax” and agree with his budget chief’s pronouncement that it is a “waste of your money.” And second, to prop up the oil, gas, and coal industries at the expense of not only climate change mitigation but also clean air, water, and land, and wildlife and natural resources.

Some of the highlights from the order include:

• Revoking several Obama executive orders and memos related to his signature climate action plan

• Instructing all agencies to initiate the process of identifying and rescinding any rules or policies implementing the climate action plan

• Instructing the Environmental Protection Agency to begin the process of unraveling the Clean Power Plan, which set standards for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants

• Instructing the Department of Interior to begin the process of unraveling commonsense rules for oil and gas extraction on federal land, including national parks

• Lifting a moratorium on new coal leasing on federal lands (existing leases were not affected) while the government assessed environmental and economic issues associated with the leasing program

Notably missing from the order is any mention of the United States’ commitment under the Paris climate agreement to reduce emissions by 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. But there’s no doubt that Trump’s insistent denial of climate change will make it much harder to keep our commitment, and represents a major setback for keeping global temperatures away from a catastrophic tipping point.

Also missing from the order is any connection to job creation, beyond the rhetorical. Well before the Obama climate action plan, market forces had already dealt a serious blow to coal’s economic prospects. Natural gas’s low prices enabled it to become a direct competitor of coal in the electric sector, and the two now directly compete. To the extent that Trump’s executive order eases regulation on the extraction of natural gas, he has only pressed these market forces harder against coal.

It is well within the executive power to depart from prior administrations’ policy preferences. But in implementing those policy changes, agencies must provide reasonable explanations for the changes that are consistent with their “enabling statutes” and missions. Climate change presents a particularly sticky problem in this regard, because it is backed by an overwhelming scientific consensus. Expect this executive order to be a rallying cry for the upcoming Earth Day and March for Science protests, and count on numerous legal challenges.

(Emily Hammond is a professor of law at the George Washington University specializing in energy law, environmental law, and administrative law. Below is the full text of the executive order, with her annotations.)