Wyomingites are hailing the "national energy emergency” President Donald Trump declared on the first day of his presidency.
A number of Wyoming’s oil and gas industry officials told Cowboy State Daily they were still reviewing the declaration and accompanying executive orders, and weren’t sure how things would roll out here.
But at least one Wyoming landman already has some immediate ideas for Wyoming’s BLM office to quickly comply with Trump’s energy directives.
Kirkwood Oil and Gas Landman Steve Degenfelder told Cowboy State Daily he is calling on the Wyoming BLM office to immediately approve existing applications for permits to drill, as well as immediately offer lease sales on 606,000 acres of deferred oil and gas leases that have piled up from 2022 through 2024 under the Biden administration.
“Those are the things that we can do that are pending right now,” Degenfelder said. “And if I was the BLM director in Wyoming, that’s what I’d do, is what I’ve just been told by my boss to do.”
The oil and gas industry has also filed expressions of interest for 4 million-plus acres of oil and gas mineral rights. Degenfelder said BLM should immediately begin processing those.
“You’ll have a lot of people standing around and saying, ‘Well, I don’t know if this really pertains to that or this,’” Degenfelder said. “I think this is where BLM leadership is really going to matter.
“And I’ve really tried to impress upon people, especially back in Washington, D.C., that have any communication with the administration, that you need a very strong person there as director of BLM to push this agenda forward.”
Good Signs
A spokesman with the BLM Office of Wyoming told Cowboy State Daily that they would not be able to respond by close of business Tuesday to Degenfelder’s challenge, or to anything related to Trump’s executive orders.
“Anything referring to executive orders issued by President Trump does need to get cleared through the national office and the Department of the Interior,” the spokespersons said. “So, we’re not going to be able to respond that quickly.”
Petroleum Association of Wyoming Vice President Ryan McConnaughey, however, told Cowboy State Daily that he believes Degenfelder has “hit the nail on the head” with his challenge to Wyoming’s BLM office.
“Steve is right there in making sure that we have a clear path forward, as well as transparency in any decisions that are made the BLM when it comes to deferrals and whether or not an expression of interest is being processed,” McConnaughey said. “I think obviously there are times that the BLM makes determinations, but making sure that they are within the law and transparent about the reasons they make their decisions is of huge importance.”
McConaughey said he was still going through the emergency declaration, as well as other executive orders pertaining to energy, to understand how those things may play out and what they will mean for Wyoming oil and gas.
“I think it’s important to know that all of these executive orders still have to be determined to be within the law,” he said. “So, we’ll have to wait and see on some of the effects of all these.”
But in general, McConnaughey said he likes what he’s seeing.
“Anything that can make sure that energy production is moving forward, and having some certainty from our federal partners is going to be helpful for the industry,” he said.
Energy Emergency Covers A Lot
That includes Trump’s executive orders reversing the pause on LNG exports, as well as the pause on drilling on the outer continental shelf.
“And then, just moving forward at the Wyoming level, making sure that we are working on routine quarterly lease sales, as outlined by the Mineral Leasing Act, and trying to move forward with leasing reform so that we have stability in that for Wyoming producers,” McConnaughey said.
Wyoming Energy Authority Executive Director Rob Creager said he likes everything he sees so far.
“There’s no two ways about it: The new administration’s focus on energy security and domestic supply, which align with Wyoming’s energy objectives, is refreshing and badly needed,” he said. “We have already begun collaborating with the administration and look forward to advancing policies that maintain Wyoming’s leadership in providing the nation with reliable, affordable power, a role we have proudly upheld for decades.”
Travis Deti, longtime head of the Wyoming Mining Association, likewise said his agency will be combing through the executive orders and the new priorities of the Trump administration to better understand them.
“We’re very hopeful, we’re very optimistic, that it’s going to be good for Wyoming mining, Wyoming coal and Wyoming energy,” he said. “Anything we can do to expedite some development and get our resources out of the ground and use them, to provide clean affordable energy to folks, we’re all for that.”
‘We Will Drill, Baby, Drill’
Trump unveiled his declaration of a national energy emergency Monday, along with a flurry of executive orders all intended to get the energy industry moving again in the name of national security and domestic well-being.
“The inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices,” Trump said in his remarks to the nation. “And that is why today I will also declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill.”
Trump also pledged during his comments about energy to make America a manufacturing nation once again.
“We have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have — the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on earth — and we are going to use it,” Trump said. “We’ll use it.
“We will bring prices down, fill our strategic reserves up again, right to the top, and export American energy all over the world,” he continued. “We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it.”
National Energy Emergency Is New Territory
Declaring a national emergency unlocks new authorities and additional executive powers the president doesn’t normally have, including suspension of some environmental regulations or restrictions of various exports.
No president prior to Trump has declared a national energy emergency, so it is somewhat new territory. But during the 1970s, then-President Jimmy Carter declared regional energy emergencies.
As part of that, Carter granted the state governors in those regions the power to suspend some environmental regulations. In allowing that, he directed them to act thoughtfully, and to use their new authority wisely and only as a last resort.
At the time, there was a fuel shortage caused by price controls, a much different circumstance than today. American has become a net exporter of fossil fuels and now produces the most oil and gas of any country in the world.
In his energy emergency declaration, Trump did not cite a fuel shortage as his rationale. Instead, he cited increasingly hostile interests that have so hampered American energy production that the nation’s capacity to respond to hostile foreign actors has been greatly diminished.
He also said dangerous state policies are further weakening the country, jeopardizing national defense and security interests, while also devastating the prosperity of the entire nation — bad news in a global theater where access to clean, affordable energy has become ever more important, and looks to become even more vital with the rise of artificial intelligence.
“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,” Trump said. “In light of these findings, I hereby declare a national emergency.”
Steps Outlined By Emergency Declaration Include Eminent Domain
Trump’s emergency declaration goes on to outline several steps to address the situation, including a section called “emergency approvals.”
That directs agencies to use all lawful authorities and emergency powers to identify and carry out all leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining and generation of domestic energy resource activities, as necessary to achieve national emergency energy production goals.
He also outlined similar steps when it comes to transportation of energy in and through both the west and northeast coasts of the United States and Alaska.
If eminent domain is required to carry out any of the identified actions or projects, those agencies are to submit their recommendations about that to the president.
The document directs agencies to identify projects that could be subject to emergency treatment when it comes to the nationwide permits overseen by agencies like the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It also directs those agencies to consult promptly and take appropriate actions “concerning the application of the emergency Army Corps permitting provisions.”
“This is an opportunity for some sweeping change,” Institute for Energy Research President Tom Pyle told Cowboy State Daily. “But I don’t know what it will translate to ultimately.”
Pyle believes its main thrust is to create a sense of urgency for all agencies so that they find ways to “plow through” the bureaucracy and get energy projects past bottlenecks.
“It’s hard to know exactly what the result is going to be,” he said. “I have read through it, but don’t see anything beyond what’s already within their authority. I think it just puts all the agencies on notice that securing reliable energy through gasoline, electricity, etc. is a high priority for the administration.”
Monte Besler is a consultant known as the Fracn8tor who has operated in multiple states,including Wyoming, as an oil and gas consultant. His read of the document is that Trump is seeking war powers to greatly expedite oil and gas infrastructure.
“The emergencies act that gives the President powers is almost just a smidgen short of martial law type of thing,” he said. “It lets him suspend regulations and different things like that in a state of emergency.”
Besler added the document does seem to be targeting both the U.S.Nnortheast and West Coast.
“They’re the ones really getting hurt by energy prices,” Besler said. “I see right now that fuel oils and natural gas and everything in the Northeast is really starting to hurt ohm, partly because of this cold snap.”
Additional Executive Orders
Several executive orders accompany the declaration of national energy emergency, including one calling for a halt and immediate review of all recent agency actions that might burden development of domestic energy resources. Agencies are also to develop a plan within 30 days to revise or rescind any existing rules that burden the nation’s energy industry.
The U.S. attorney general, meanwhile, is directed to review pending litigation to see if any of those cases need to be resolved or simply dropped for the sake of energy production, and the chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality is directed to provide guidance on the National Environmental Protection Act, including rescinding some of CEQ’s NEPA regulations.
A slew of Biden’s executive orders also were rescinded, including various climate-related orders.
Included in the list of rescinded orders is one fairly old executive order going back to 1977, relating to the protection and enhancement of environmental quality.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
