The election of a new Administration headed by President Donald Trump in the United States has been followed by the announcement of several Executive Orders concerning energy and environmental policy and regulations. In this article, I will summarize the contents of the EOs and review the possible implications of them for Canada.

It should be noted at the outset that Executive Orders (EOs) are Presidential Documents used to  manage the operations of the Executive branch of the United States Government. Typically, an Executive Order directs departments and agencies of the U.S. government to take certain actions. The majority of EOs do not take immediate effect because they require federal government departments and agencies to implement them and, in some cases, they require the passage of legislation by the U.S. Congress.

Where orders direct agencies to review and rollback existing regulations this requires a set of legal steps required by the U.S. Administrative Procedures Act, summarized by the Harvard University Environment and Energy Law Program here. Generally, rules must be undone the same way that they were promulgated, so if a rule has been put in place through notice-and-comment rulemaking, the agency will need to follow that same lengthy process which includes a proposed rule, public comment, incorporation of those public comments into a final rule and publication of the final rule. Other EOs that do not require changes in regulation may also require lengthy processes.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/unleashing-american-energy