As promised, the new White House is boldly moving at Trump speed. Already we have seen several key actions taken by Executive Order that rollback the green agenda and advance protections for property rights including 30×30 and Natural Capital Accounts.
30×30: As we reported last week, day one President Trump rescinded the Executive Order (EO) that launched 30×30 to permanently protect 30 percent of our lands and oceans by 2030 – EO 14008. This gets rid of the policy, but not the implementation. Now the hard work begins to dig out the many entrenched programs across the federal departments.
Natural Capital Accounts (NCA’s): Also on day one, through Executive Order titled “Unleashing American Energy,” the President revoked Biden’s EO 14072. This is the EO we pointed out last week that advances the dangerous natural asset agenda pushed by the United Nations – where world elites are seeking to monetize natural functions (pollination, photosynthesis, carbon) and claim ownership of these to control the land.
Biden’s EO number 14072 directed the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to “issue guidance related to the valuation of ecosystem and environmental services and natural assets in Federal regulatory decision-making.” At the end of December, Biden’s OMB released a draft guidance policy for public comment – deadline February 18, 2025. The policy would implement the Biden White House strategy to create natural capital accounts and place natural assets, federal holdings and private property as collateral on the nation’s balance sheet. Because Trump revoked the EO, the draft guidance policy should be dead.
NEPA: A D.C. Circuit court issued a decision stating that Congress did not give the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) the authority to promulgate regulations for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). They found that the Act only authorized the CEQ to issue guidance. The direction to create the regulations was given by President Carter in 1977 through EO 11991. The court points out that only Congress has the authority to direct the promulgation of regulations, not the Executive Branch. President Trump has wasted no time acting on the Court’s finding by rescinding Carter’s EO. This raises the question whether the CEQ NEPA regulations are valid.
NEPA has been the tool environmentalists have used to stop anything and everything that involves the productive use of the lands including timber sales, grazing permits, oil, gas and mineral leases, building and road approvals, and many other necessary projects. If the authorization for these regulations is found to be invalid, it will force the revisiting of the entire environmental review process. This will be one to watch.
ESA: There is a rarely used Endangered Species Act (ESA) provision that allows a Committee (known as the “God Squad”) to review and exempt certain actions from ESA section 7 reviews. In layman’s terms, this means the Committee has authority to approve projects that might otherwise be stopped under the ESA. Through EO titled Declaring a National Energy Emergency, President Trump has directed that the Committee meet at least quarterly and when not reviewing applications for exemptions, be looking for ways to reduce the obstacles to energy development that the ESA creates.These are just some of the highlights from week one. We recommend you check out the indepth list our friends at the Competitive Enterprise Institute have put together. You can also keep track of all the White House actions here.