Zero-Based Regulatory Budgeting To Unleash American Energy

Key claim: Executive Order 14270 of April 9, 2025 (90 FR 15643, April 15, 2025) directs covered agencies including EPA, DOE, FERC, NRC, and specified Interior and Army Corps components to insert conditional sunset dates into regulations issued under listed energy, mining, and environmental statutes. Existing covered regulations receive a one-year conditional sunset (extendable after public comment, never more than five years out), while new ones are limited to at most five years, compelling periodic reexamination to reduce outdated burdens on energy production.

Abstract

Presidential Documents 15643Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 71 / Tuesday, April 15, 2025 / Presidential Documents Executive Order 14270 of April 9, 2025 Zero-Based Regulatory Budgeting To Unleash American En- ergy By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose. In our country, laws are supposed to provide the certainty and order necessary to foster liberty and innovation. Instead, our vast regu- latory structure often serves to constrict ordered liberty, not promote it. The United States Code itself is more than 60,000 pages. But unelected agency officials write most of the complex, legally binding rules on top of that, often stretching these statutory provisions beyond what the Congress enacted. In particular, the previous administration added more pages to the Federal Register than any other in history, with the result that the Code of Federal Regulations now approaches a staggering 200,000 pages. These regulations linger in such volume that serious reexamination seldom occurs. This regime of governance-by-regulator has imposed particularly severe costs on energy production, where innovation is critical. The net result is an energy landscape perpetually trapped in the 1970s. By rescinding outdated regulations that serve as a drag on progress, we can stimulate innovation and deliver prosperity to everyday Americans. This order directs certain agencies to incorporate a sunset provision into their regulations governing energy production to the extent permitted by law, thus compelling those agencies to reexamine their regulations periodi- cally to ensure that those rules serve the public good. Sec. 2. Definitions. For the purposes of this order: (a) ‘‘Conditional Sunset Date’’ means the date a regulation will cease to be effective and be removed from the Code of Federal Regulations, if the agency does not extend the Sunset Date pursuant to section 4(d) of this order. (b) ‘‘Covered Agency’’ means one of the agencies listed in section 3(a) of this order. © ‘‘Covered Regulation’’ means a regulation issued in whole or in part pursuant to a statutory authority listed in sections 3(b)–(j) of this order. (d) ‘‘DOGE Team Lead’’ means the leader of the DOGE Team at each agency as described in Executive Order 14158. (e) ‘‘Regulation’’ means each part, subpart, or individual provision of the Code of Federal Regulations promulgated under an agency rule as defined in

Why this matters

Executive Order 14270 of April 9, 2025 (90 FR 15643, April 15, 2025) directs covered agencies including EPA, DOE, FERC, NRC, and specified Interior and Army Corps components to insert conditional sunset dates into regulations issued under listed energy, mining, and environmental statutes. Existing covered regulations receive a one-year conditional sunset (extendable after public comment, never more than five years out), while new ones are limited to at most five years, compelling periodic reexamination to reduce outdated burdens on energy production.

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