Viewpoint: US poised for energy policy rush

President Donald Trump's administration is setting course to rapidly implement changes to energy sector regulations and open new areas to drilling ahead of next year's presidential election.

The administration's plan is to wrap up high-profile regulatory actions, hold contentious oil and gas lease sales in Alaska and finish as much energy-related litigation as possible in the last year of Trump's first term. Completing those actions early next year would make it harder for them to be overturned if a Democratic candidate wins in the 3 November elections.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is handling some of the highest profile of those regulations. They include two different rules expected for release in the first quarter of next year that would first ease and then potentially rescind methane restrictions on the oil and gas industry. A separate EPA rule, expected as soon as January, could freeze fuel-economy standards for cars and pickup trucks after 2020, boosting fuel use by 500,000 b/d by 2030.

EPA separately on 18 December asked a federal court to expedite a lawsuit from states and environmentalists challenging a decision this year to revoke the ability of California and other states to enforce their own clean vehicle standards that would increase to the equivalent of 46.7 miles/USG by 2025. EPA wants the court to hold arguments in the case by spring, which it said would give automakers certainty over their compliance obligations.

The US Interior Department's most significant upcoming action is a plan to hold its first oil and gas lease sale in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a once-protected area estimated to hold 5.7bn-10.4bn bl of crude. Another priority will be finishing up a plan that could increase by 55pc the amount of federal acreage in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska available for leasing.

Interior's push for a massive expansion of offshore oil and gas leasing that would open up more than 95pc of federal waters to drilling has been placed on hold, in the wake of a court ruling that halted leasing off the coast of Alaska. Oil industry officials expect no movement on that plan until after the 2020 election because of opposition to offshore drilling in Florida and other swing states.

Interior is also defending in court its decision last year to weaken its implementation of the Endangered Species Act, a high-profile case that critics say would make it far harder for more species to gain protection. And the agency next year plans to propose a revision to oil, gas and coal royalty regulations, after a court this year halted its decision to block tougher rules.

Federal agencies in many cases are racing against the clock to finish regulations because the Congressional Review Act, a statute that allows lawmakers to disapprove recent rules by a majority vote. Republican lawmakers used the law in 2017 to throw out coal mining rules and oil payment transparency regulations. The law only applies to regulations within 60 legislative days, meaning rules finished by summer would not be subject to disapproval.

By Chris Knight