Dive Brief:
- The American Petroleum Institute, the largest U.S. oil and natural gas trade association, released a policy wishlist for President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration this week, a platform which has a heavy focus on reversing a cadre of the previous administration’s policies.
- API, which includes nearly 600 members, gave the administration a five-point policy list on Tuesday, focused on repealing or rescinding rules put into place by President Joe Biden geared toward driving electric vehicle adoption; allowing new liquefied natural gas exports and new permits; increasing onshore and offshore leasing; permitting reform; and preserving tax credits.
- The policy wishlist comes after former President Trump reportedly told the oil and gas industry that he would immediately reverse a number of Biden’s environmental rules in exchange for $1 billion in campaign contributions, the Washington Post reported in May. Republicans will have unified control of the White House and both Congressional chambers come January.
Dive Insight:
API said in an open letter preceding the policy objectives that its roadmap for the Trump administration would “reverse course” on a regulatory agenda that the trade association said is threatening consumer choice on topics like home appliances and cars.
Trump campaigned on a promise to “unleash American energy dominance,” and API President and CEO Mike Sommers said the U.S. oil and gas industry’s “continued success is far from guaranteed.”
“Our country has a generational opportunity to fully leverage U.S. energy leadership to improve the lives of all Americans and bring stability to a volatile world,” Sommers said in the open letter. “It has never been more vital that America control its energy future.”
The group’s top issue plank revolves around repealing EV-focused regulations, including the Environmental Protection Agency’s tailpipe emissions rules and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s corporate average fuel economy standards. Both are expected to push automakers to manufacture and sell more EVs to comply. API also asked Trump’s administration to rescind or deny a waiver for California’s own stricter vehicle emissions standards.
“American consumers … should not shoulder the burden of the extreme costs associated with a forced shift to electric vehicles,” API’s policy map said. “EVs are an option for some, but don’t work for many Americans, and existing charging infrastructure is completely inadequate to meet the mandated targets.”
Additionally, the oil and gas industry group asked the incoming Trump administration to lift the Biden administration’s LNG permitting pause and “swiftly process all pending export applications.” API said the Trump administration should also renew the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s leasing program for another five years, while repealing onshore leasing rules.
The group also wants Trump’s administration to repeal a methane fee implemented by EPA as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. While the group is asking for that part of the IRA to be repealed, the trade association’s policy platform includes a call for the next administration to retain “technology-neutral tax credits,” in addition to reforming the National Environmental Protection Act and Clean Water Act to speed up the permitting process.
A good portion of the deregulatory-focused platform would fall to EPA. Trump recently nominated former House Rep. Lee Zeldin to lead the agency, and said Zeldin would oversee “swift deregulatory decisions.”
The policy platform is silent on a commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement, which Trump pulled the U.S. from in 2016 and pledged on the campaign trail to withdraw from again if re-elected.
API counts ExxonMobil as a member, which is urging Trump to drop the campaign pledge, and the trade association’s page on climate action said its membership is working to “supply the energy the world needs while working to reach the ambitions of the Paris Climate Agreement.” An Exxon spokesperson told ESG Dive earlier this week that exiting the Paris Accords again would “have profound implications for the United States’ efforts to reduce its own emissions.”
A recent analysis by BloombergNEF found that the global transition is currently aligned with a 2.6 degree Celsius global temperature rise — well above the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting warming “well below 2 degrees Celsius.” Additionally, an Accenture report released this week found that just 16% of the world’s largest companies are on track to reach net-zero by 2050.
