White House Outlines Priorities On Oil And Gas, Offshore Carbon Storage

The spring Unified Agenda provides a snapshot of efforts to advance the president’s plans for fossil fuel exploration and infrastructure.

The White House’s regulatory agenda landed Thursday, solidifying plans for rules that could boost the oil and gas industry and laying out a timeline for offshore carbon storage regulations.

The spring Unified Agenda offers the latest look at the Trump administration’s efforts to expand domestic energy production — while not providing a deadline for standards for carbon dioxide pipelines.

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During the first seven-plus months of the Trump administration, officials have focused on jettisoning initiatives advanced under former President Joe Biden that sought to impose more requirements on fossil fuel businesses.

In a series of executive orders, President Donald Trump has taken aim at Biden’s moves to address climate change and expand conservation in states like Alaska, replacing them with policies intended to maximize the use of oil and gas.

The Trump administration’s new Unified Agenda provides a blueprint for what to expect from key departments and agencies in the months ahead.

Interior on Oil and Gas

The Trump administration firmed up a series of proposed regulation changes, walking back environmental requirements for oil and gas producers and allowing more harassment of marine animals by the industry. Federal law prohibits the “take” of protected species, a term that includes killing or harassing animals. Harassment refers to a range of actions that can disturb or injure animals, and some unintentional harassment is allowed under the law.

One rule, set to be proposed in October, would undo rules dating from the Biden administration to require insurance companies keep more money on hand for oil and gas lease cleanup onshore. The Biden-era rule had also sought to reduce conflicts with wildlife and recreators by focusing oil and gas leasing in areas likely to produce substantial amounts of oil and gas.

Other efforts from the Interior Department allow more harassment by oil and gas players of polar bears and walruses in the Southern Beaufort Sea and northern sea otters near Kodiak, Alaska, and Seward, Alaska. The polar bear and walrus rule took effect in June, while the sea otters rule is set to be finalized in October.

Interior didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the Unified Agenda.

The department also plans in December to announce updates to oil spill cleanup rules — the first updates to the regulations in 22 years. Interior wrote that the changes would “streamline the oil spill response planning requirements,” saying it expects a comment period on the proposal to be open until February.

Offshore Carbon Storage

Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement are slated to release a proposed rule next May to regulate offshore carbon dioxide storage.

In the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, Congress opened the outer continental shelf to CO2 storage — directin