American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2017 - 16

IndustryDigest
Trump's Order To Limit
Regulatory Growth
Draws Legal Challenge
WASHINGTON-The Natural
Resources Defense Council has joined
consumer advocacy group Public
Citizen and the Communications
Workers of America in suing the Trump
administration in an attempt to kill the
president's executive order (EO)
directing federal agencies to repeal two
regulations for every new rule they issue
(see story, page 28). The plaintiffs are
asking the U.S. District Court for the
District of Columbia to issue a
declaration that the order cannot be
lawfully implemented and to bar federal
agencies from doing so.
The EO, which President Trump
signed on Jan. 30, also calls for no net
cost increase for rules issued this fiscal
year. The lawsuit alleges that the
agencies cannot lawfully comply with
the EO because doing so would violate
the statutes under which the agencies
operate, as well as the Administrative
Procedure Act.
"President Trump's order would
deny Americans the basic protections
they rightly expect," asserts NRDC
President Rhea Suh. "New efforts to
stop pollution don't automatically make
old ones unnecessary. This order
imposes a false choice between clean
air, clean water, safe food, and other
environmental safeguards."
Adds Public Citizen President
Robert Weissman, "No one thinking
sensibly about how to set rules for
health, safety, the environment and the
economy would ever adopt the Trump
EO approach-unless the only goal was
to confer enormous benefits on big
business. If implemented, the order will
result in lasting damage to our
government's ability to save lives,
protect our environment, police Wall
Street, keep consumers safe, and fight
discrimination. Irrationally directing
agencies to consider costs but not
benefits of new rules will fundamentally
change our government's role from one
of protecting the public to protecting
corporate profits."
Among its complaints, the lawsuit
faults the EO for:
* Instructing agencies to focus on
rules' costs while ignoring their
benefits;
* Lacking statutory support in
16 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

either the rules' enabling legislation or a
separate law commanding no net
regulatory cost increase and a one-intwo-out approach to rule making; and
* Threatening implementation of
governing statutes.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are
represented by lawyers at Public Citizen
Litigation Group, NRDC, CWA and
Earthjustice. ❒

Trump Puts More Teeth
Into Regulatory Reform
WASHINGTON-President Donald
Trump put additional teeth into his
regulatory reform efforts by signing an
executive order on Feb. 24 instructing
federal agencies to designate regulatory
reform officers within their ranks as
well as to create regulatory reform task
forces.
Each regulatory reform officer "shall
oversee the implementation of
regulatory reform initiatives and
policies to ensure that agencies
effectively carry out regulatory reforms,
consistent with applicable laws," the
order states. Among the policies
specified is Executive Order 13771,
signed by Trump on Jan. 30.
That order, the "Presidential
Executive Order on Reducing
Regulation and Controlling Regulatory
Costs," requires agencies to identify two
existing regulations that can be repealed
for each new regulation they promulgate
(see story page 28). It also stipulates
that the Office of Management and
Budget establish a ceiling on the
amount of incremental costs that will be
allowed for each agency to issue new
regulations in any fiscal year.
The Feb. 24 executive order instructs
agencies' regulatory reform task forces
to "evaluate existing regulations and
make recommendations to the agency
head regarding their repeal, replacement
or modification." It directs task forces to
identify regulations that:
* Eliminate jobs or inhibit job
creation;
* Are outdated, unnecessary or
ineffective;
* Impose costs that exceed benefits;
* Create a serious inconsistency
with or otherwise interfere with
regulatory reform initiatives and
policies;
* Rely on data, information or
methods that are not publicly available

or sufficiently transparent; and
* Derive from or implement
executive orders or other presidential
directives that subsequently have been
rescinded or substantially modified.
According to published reports,
Trump signed the order following a
round table with executives from top
manufacturing companies, and said
the order was "one of many ways we
are going to get real results when it
comes to removing job-killing
regulations and unleashing economic
opportunity." Trump reportedly
promised his deregulation efforts, tax
reforms and trade policies would
"return significant manufacturing jobs
to our country."
American Petroleum Institute
President and Chief Executive Officer
Jack Gerard applauded the initiative. "In
the past few years, our industry has
faced a regulatory onslaught with 145
new rules and regulations aimed at
hindering development of our nation's
energy resources," he states. "We must
have smart, common-sense regulations
that will continue to drive innovations in
technology and support America's
energy renaissance." ❒

Western Alliance
Lauds ONRR Freeze On
Royalty Valuation Rule
DENVER-The Western Energy
Alliance is cheering the Office of
Natural Resources Revenue's decision
to hold off on its new royalty valuation
rule while the matter is in litigation.
ONRR Director Gregory Gould
announced the agency would suspend
reporting requirements under the
consolidated federal oil and gas, and
federal and Indian coal valuation rule,
which was finalized July 1 and took
effect on Jan. 1. The first reports would
have been due on Feb. 28, but Gould
indicates ONRR is postponing the
effective date until the legal challenges
are resolved.
In the Feb. 27 Federal Register, the
director says, "In light of the existence
and consequences of the pending
litigation, and given the potentially
irreparable harm that could result if the
2017 valuation rule is implemented
immediately, ONRR has determined
that the public interest and justice
requires postponing the effectiveness of
American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2017

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