The U.S. Interior Department on Monday unveiled a suite of orders aimed at carrying out President Donald Trump’s agenda to maximize domestic energy and minerals production and slash red tape.
In a statement, the agency said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the former governor of North Dakota, signed six orders on his first day in office.
The orders stem from a range of executive orders Trump issued in his first days in office. Those actions directed agencies to speed up permitting of energy projects and unwind environmental protections that his administration deems burdensome.
The moves by Burgum signal a dramatic shift in Interior Department policies. Former President Joe Biden’s administration sought for four years to slow new fossil fuel development on public lands and waters while encouraging renewable energy sectors like offshore wind and solar as part of a strategy to combat climate change.
“Today marks the beginning of an exciting chapter for the Department of the Interior,” Burgum said in a statement. “We are committed to working collaboratively to unlock America’s full potential in energy dominance and economic development to make life more affordable for every American family while showing the world the power of America’s natural resources and innovation.”
Burgum’s orders directed agency staff to identify emergency and legal authorities to speed project development and permitting in line with Trump’s energy emergency declaration and to eliminate burdensome regulations in part by reviewing appropriations under the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act laws.
The statement said the agency would eliminate at least 10 regulations for every new one introduced.
One of the orders revoked Biden’s withdrawal of large areas of federal waters from new offshore oil and gas development, while another seeks to boost resource development on federal and state lands in Alaska.
The Interior Department oversees millions of acres of lands and offshore waters stretching from the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico, and leases out parcels for drilling operations that now produce around a quarter of the U.S. oil and gas output.
(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jamie Freed)