‘Black box': What exactly is Trump's energy council doing?
Some Trump supporters credit the National Energy Dominance Council for the administration's most high-profile energy moves, from fast-tracking environmental permits to expanding mining for critical minerals to seeking more offshore drilling. They also give it credit for other feats, such as lower U.S. gasoline prices.
While some of Trump's executive orders pinpoint a specific role for the council, it's unclear how the body operates on a day-to-day basis and whether it has sought to drive policy or market changes.
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Since mid-February, the panel has seen its executive director come and go, and the White House has not detailed who works at the council or said how often the members all come together. Trump issued an executive order creating the council on Feb. 14, as well as a related fact sheet. The council doesn't appear to have a website.
'It's not clear exactly what [the council's] functions are,' said Roger Pielke Jr., a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.
The president publicly discussed the National Energy Dominance Council in February at a White House ceremony, where he was flanked by the new council's leaders: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright. The president's executive order designates the Interior head as the council's chair and the Energy secretary as the vice chair. In addition, it lists 17 other spots on the council, from the U.S. trade representative to the Defense secretary.
'We're going to be energy dominant like nobody else,' the president said at the February event.
The council is supposed to provide Trump with a 'recommended National Energy Dominance Strategy' that's built on cutting 'unnecessary' regulation and boosting private sector investment in 'all sectors of the energy-producing economy,' according to the executive order.
In it, Trump gave marching orders to the council for its first 100 days with actions it 'shall' take. The council has now been around for about 100 days.
According to the order, the council must recommend a plan to Trump to 'raise awareness on a national level of matters related to energy dominance' and advise Trump on actions each agency can take to grow production — like 'rapidly facilitating' approvals for energy infrastructure and approving the construction of natural gas pipelines into or in New England, California, Alaska and other regions.
The White House did not tell POLITICO's E&E News what specific pipelines it would like to see built, although Trump has signaled he wants to see the revival of the Constitution pipeline — which was canceled in 2020 but has been discussed as a new link between Pennsylvania and upstate New York.
Ben Dietderich, a DOE spokesperson, said expanding pipeline infrastructure in the Northeast and across the United States is a top priority for the administration. The region has long had expensive energy because of inadequate natural gas pipeline capacity, he said.
'The department will continue working closely with the White House and the entire National Energy Dominance Council to advance President Trump's agenda and secure America's energy future, this includes by advocating for the construction of additional energy infrastructure, such as pipelines,' Dietderich said in a statement.
The White House has also thrown its support behind the planned Alaska LNG project, including an 807-mile pipeline that would run from the state's North Slope to its south. Burgum, Wright and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin are set to visit Alaska next month to appear on a panel with Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy about energy issues.
Burgum and Wright traveled to Louisiana in March, where they spoke at an event at Venture Global's Plaquemines LNG terminal. Their remarks focused on cutting red tape and boosting U.S. exports of the supercooled gas. EPA has also sought to present a different focus under Trump.
'Administrator Zeldin has worked diligently to drive economic growth by unleashing energy dominance, pursuing permitting reform, and bolstering energy security through commonsense policies and actions to bring back reliable forms of energy production while ensuring clean air, land, and water for every American,' said Molly Vaseliou, an EPA spokesperson, in a statement.
In addition to the Alaska summit, Zeldin will also be visiting EPA's Region 10 operations center and holding meetings with elected officials, Vaseliou said.
Offices of governors in Alaska, California, New York and New England did not return requests for comment. The office of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, declined to comment.
'Direct action'
Burgum has the top spot at the energy dominance council, but the Interior Department did not answer questions last week about who staffs the council, how often it meets or what policy items it is focused on.
'Since President Trump established the National Energy Dominance Council, prices for many goods and services have seen steady declines,' Interior spokesperson Elizabeth Peace said in a statement.
Peace said the council 'is championing the President's Energy Dominance agenda by delivering big wins, real savings, and unstoppable growth for the American people.'
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has worked on issues such as the licensing of deepwater ports to pipeline safety, his department said in a statement.
Beyond Cabinet-level positions, the council is filled with at least seven other economic and security advisers, including Robin Colwell, Stephen Miran and Stephen Miller, based on a list of titles included in Trump's February order. Colwell is deputy director of the White House National Economic Council and deputy assistant to the president for economic policy. The Senate confirmed Miran in March as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. Miller is the White House deputy chief of staff for policy.
Trump has yet to nominate the chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Katherine Scarlett is chief of staff at CEQ.
CEQ is committed to working with the energy dominance council to 'advance President Trump's agenda to make America energy dominant,' the office said in a statement. CEQ pointed to the recent creation of a permitting innovation center as an example of efforts to eliminate 'red tape' and update permitting technology.
Among the energy dominance council's staffers is Brittany Kelm, who started earlier this month a senior policy adviser within the Executive Office of the President, according to a LinkedIn post. Kelm is an alum of oil and gas companies Shell and Valero. Another staffer is William Doffermyre, according to a LinkedIn post.
DOE did not respond to requests for comment about the National Energy Dominance Council. The State Department referred E&E News to the White House, which did not answer questions about the council's actions and future.
Jeremy Harrell, CEO of the conservative clean energy group ClearPath, said the council is going to be less about reports and more about 'direct action' that agencies can take to further Trump's energy dominance agenda.
'I think we saw that in the critical minerals [executive order], where it was highlighting multiple actions across agencies that they had the ability to use executive authority to push forward,' he said.
Harrell said the council seems to be taking an approach of pursuing near-term opportunities, such as the Trump administration's push for projects of 'national significance' — like advanced reactor demonstration projects at DOE — as well as growing American energy supply chains.
Diana Furchtgott-Roth, the director of the Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment at The Heritage Foundation, said she'd like to see the council follow the models of the National Economic Council and the Domestic Policy Council, 'which coordinate policies across Cabinet agencies without putting out reports.'
Success for the council can be attributed to the body's 'convening power, as it brings together diverse stakeholders,' said Brigham McCown, senior fellow and the director at the Hudson Institute's Initiative on American Energy Security.
He said it's 'too early to identify shortcomings,' given the relative newness of the group and its work. But he recommended a 'strong sense of urgency to their mission, as we are years behind in successfully addressing our looming energy deficits.'
'Not particularly transparent'
While 'energy dominance' is frequently mentioned by the administration, energy analysts said the daily operations of the advisory council are kept behind the curtain.
'It's not particularly transparent,' said Pielke Jr. with the American Enterprise Institute.
He argued that the opaque nature of the council is characteristic of the Trump administration generally, where it is not clear how choices and policy development actually happen.
'The processes that normally function [in an administration] are different,' Pielke Jr. said. 'It's just kind of a black box.'
Pielke Jr. said that coordinating energy policy across agencies is a viable idea to address a complex issue. But he said he's been disappointed with the administration's pursuit of policy primarily through executive orders, which he said have less staying power than legislation. He said that's particularly true with long-term projects like pipelines, nuclear reactors and other infrastructure projects that take years to build.
'The administration is not going to have a lasting impact on energy policy despite the rhetoric if it doesn't engage Congress in legislative activity,' he said.
The House passed a major Trump-backed budget reconciliation bill last week. The legislation — which still needs Senate approval — includes measures such as faster phase-downs of certain production and investment credits for renewable energy and speeding up reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Piekle Jr. said the whipsaw of policy priorities between Democratic and Republican administrations, leaves developers with uncertain choices in the face of unstable policy and urged the administration to focus on congressional action.
ClearPath's Harrell said executive orders, such as the one on critical minerals, showcase the council's coordination. He pointed to the multiagency nature of the order.
'You're seeing those as central administration positions because the energy dominance council is about bringing those folks together and putting forth a strategic plan,' Harrell said.
Ellen Wald, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global Energy Center, said she hopes the dominance council focuses on developing a strategic reserve for critical minerals, long-term planning for energy infrastructure projects and setting deadlines for replacing canceled rules and regulations from the Biden administration.
She said the partisanship that now pervades federal rulemaking means that policies are reversed from one administration to the next, and it usually takes months or years for the new administration to implement a replacement rule.
'If you don't have faith that the regulations that you started following are going to be the same ones that are there, it's really, really challenging,' Wald said.
Even if rules are going to impose stringent requirements on industry, she said, it's easier for companies to operate if the requirements are consistent.
'Most energy infrastructure projects are going to take more than four years [to build],' she said.
David Hill, executive vice president of energy program at the Bipartisan Policy Center think tank, said building energy infrastructure should be a 'top priority' for the council and Congress.
Supporters say the council is functioning in a way that Trump would want.
'President Trump made it pretty clear, and so did Secretary Burgum, that all of the energy issues from all of the different departments and agencies are funneling up to his energy dominance council,' said Carla Sands, vice chair of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute and a former ambassador to Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
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