President Trump declared a national energy emergency as part of a flurry of executive orders issued Monday. But the document is not an emergency for all forms of energy, it's mostly supporting the production of domestic fossil fuels.
"We will drill, baby, drill," Trump said in his inauguration speech and then later signed the emergency declaration and commented that it "means you can do whatever you have to do to get out of that problem." That is not accurate and many of the details for how this will be done are not included in the order.
Trump invoked presidential authority under the National Emergencies Act, which he also used in 2019 to build a wall along the southern U.S. border. This gives the President more power to sidestep bureaucratic processes and public notifications. A Brennan Center analysis "identified 137 statutory powers that may become available to the president when he declares a national emergency."
In this case those powers include suspending some environmental regulations under landmark laws such as the Endangered Species Act and speeding up energy project approval processes.
Trump's declaration doesn't lay out, specifically, what he wants done. Instead, he "orders executive departments and agencies to identify and exercise any lawful emergency authorities available to them," says Amy Stein, a law professor at the University of Florida, who responded to NPR's questions by email.
Cutting red tape, mostly for fossil fuels
In issuing the order for the emergency declaration, Trump said, "The United States' insufficient energy production, transportation, refining, and generation constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to our Nation's economy, national security, and foreign policy." He blamed "the harmful and shortsighted policies of the previous administration."
But in defining what constitutes "energy" Trump left out two renewable forms – wind and solar power – which were a particular focus for the Biden administration's ambitious climate policies. Together they comprise more than 14% of the country's electricity generation.
"It's striking that the emergency he seems to be declaring, is one of a lack of fossil fuel production," says Sam Sankar, an attorney and senior leader with Earthjustice. He says that's strange because "the U.S. is currently producing more oil and gas than any nation on the planet ever has in the history of human civilization."
Trump's order doesn't mention the climate-heating effects of burning fossil fuels. Instead it says Americans are suffering from high energy prices. It also looks ahead to increasing electricity demand from technology, like artificial intelligence and says inadequate energy supplies "poses an imminent and growing threat to the United States' prosperity and national security."
To fix that, Trump wants to cut regulations and speed up approval processes to deploy more oil drilling rigs, build more pipelines, and bring more power plants onto the grid.
Stein says key provisions in the emergency declaration include ordering departments and agencies to explore using federal land or eminent domain, which is when the government takes private property for public use with compensation. The goal, as Trump's order states, is "to facilitate the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, and generation of domestic energy resources."
Stein says the emergency declaration also authorizes special provisions to grant approvals for energy projects under several existing laws including the Clean Water Act and the Marine Protection Research and Sanctuaries Act. She says it authorizes emergency consultation processes under the Endangered Species Act and construction authority for the Army Corps of Engineers.
Environmental groups may challenge this in court
One of the few checks on President Trump's emergency powers likely will come in the form of litigation. That won't happen until agencies determine what options are available.
"You can't challenge presidential statements or orders any more than you can challenge presidential speeches," Sankar says, "So what matters is when things happen on the ground that actually affect people."
He says one example could be if the Trump administration stops paying funds that were obligated under the Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law in 2022. It provided hundreds of billions of dollars of incentives to encourage technologies that reduce or eliminate the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change.
It's possible that challenges coming from this emergency declaration could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. That would provide answers to questions some have about the National Emergencies Act, such as what qualifies as an emergency.
"We actually have no case law in the United States about what constitutes an emergency and when it's appropriate to do it," says Soren Dayton, who is the director of governance at the Washington D.C. based think tank Niskanen Center. He expects either Trump's energy emergency or his most recent southern border emergency declaration will face a legal challenge.
Dayton welcomes that because he doesn't think complicated problems like energy production, climate change or immigration should be handled through presidential emergency declarations.
"These are hard things and I think you need to have politics over them – not to invest the presidency with this magic wand and say we can do all these things without any debate," Dayton says.
NPR correspondent Camila Domonoske contributed reporting to this story.
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