Trump plans to declare a 'national energy emergency.' What does that mean?

An aerial view of oil storage containers near the Chevron Pasadena Refinery in June 2024 in Pasadena, Texas. The U.S. is now the world's largest oil producer. President Trump says he is declaring a 'national energy emergency' as one of his first acts in office. Brandon Bell/Getty Images North America hide caption

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Brandon Bell/Getty Images North America

President Trump says he will declare a "national energy emergency" as one of his first acts as president, pledging to support the domestic production of fossil fuels.

"We will drill, baby, drill," he said during his inauguration speech. "We will be a rich nation again and it is the liquid gold under our feet that will help us do it."

Declaring an energy emergency would be a first for the federal government, and it's unclear what exactly it would entail. Here's what we know about the unprecedented action.

A national emergency gives the president additional powers 

In a call with reporters on Monday, a Trump administration official said the "National energy emergency will unlock a variety of different authorities that will enable our nation to quickly build again, to produce coal and natural resources, to create jobs, to create prosperity, and to strengthen our nation's national security."

Declaring a national emergency gives the president some additional executive powers. According to the Brennan Center, which has researched emergency powers, statutes grant the president the authority to suspend some environmental regulations or impose restrictions on crude oil exports.

The Brennan Center and E&E News took a look at historical uses of these powers. No president has ever declared a "national energy emergency," but regional "energy emergencies" were declared in the 1970s, when there were shortages of fossil fuels. Then-President Jimmy Carter gave state governors the authority to suspend some environmental regulations as a result, but urged them to "act with due care" because of the implications for public health, and suspend some rules only "as a last resort."

Carter did not declare a formal national emergency, although he did consider the energy crisis a top priority for his administration.

There is no shortage of fossil fuels in the U.S. 

Trump focused on fossil fuels in his inauguration speech, vowing, "we will bring prices down, fill our strategic reserves up again right to the top, and export American energy all over the world."

The regional emergencies in the '70s were responding to a fossil fuel shortage, driven in large part by price controls, as the energy historian Daniel Yergin has noted.

But the U.S. is not currently facing a fuel shortage. The U.S. is a net exporter of fossil fuels, producing more oil and gas than any other country in the world, at any point in history, and production is growing slightly. Meanwhile many analysts currently project that the world as a whole is facing a near-term oversupply of oil and natural gas, where supply will increase faster than demand.

Trump, however, has consistently said he wants to increase drilling for oil in the U.S. He is expected to roll back regulations, promote more leasing on federal lands and vocally encourage companies to drill.

The electrical grid could be an area of focus

While oil and natural gas are abundant, there are concerns that mounting demand for electricity, driven primarily by data centers and increased manufacturing, could strain the electrical grid in the years ahead.

Trump did not specifically focus on this concern in his speech, but he could use emergency authorities to try to keep open power plants that are slated to close for economic or environmental reasons. He has historically expressed support for coal plants in particular.

In the call with reporters, a Trump official also mentioned that the action would "enable our nation to quickly build again" – an allusion to a long-standing effort to reduce the regulations and legal challenges that often delay new energy projects, from pipelines to transmission lines and power plants.

In a piece last fall, E&E News explored some of the ways Trump could use emergency powers to accelerate the opening of new power plants.

This time, conserving energy won't be a priority

In the 1970s, the federal response to the national energy crisis included a strong emphasis on conserving energy through better efficiency.

Trump, in contrast, is vocally opposed to laws mandating that appliances be more efficient.

The Trump official told reporters early Monday that the order declaring an emergency will also end "efforts to curtail consumer choice" on things like shower heads, gas stoves and dishwashers.

Electric vehicles continue to be a target

Trump also promised to end the "electric vehicle mandate," a term he has frequently used to describe a suite of policies designed to encourage a transition to battery-powered cars.

There is no current federal policy requiring all vehicles be electric, but the Biden administration put in place several policies promoting electric vehicles.

Some of those policies can be swiftly undone. That includes an executive order setting a goal that by 2030, half of new vehicles sold should be EVs. It was never enforceable on its own, but was meant to give automakers and policymakers a target to work toward.

An oil rig is pictured in Stanton, Texas, in June 2023. U.S. oil production is increasingly slightly. President Trump says the U.S. will "drill, baby, drill." Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images

But the EV policies that most outrage Trump and other Republicans — like major tax credits for consumers and manufacturers, stringent federal emissions standards and state-level EV mandates — cannot be undone by the stroke of a pen, and require months-long regulatory actions, legislation from Congress or intervention from the Supreme Court.

Trump's action might direct his agencies to prioritize anti-EV policy changes.

These rollbacks are strongly supported by the oil industry, while the auto industry has called for stability and consistency – that is, keeping Biden's policies largely in place, with only small changes.

A pledge to lower prices 

"We will bring prices down," Trump said in his inaugural speech. On the campaign trail he repeatedly promised to lower energy prices by 50%.

That's an improbable target, analysts say. (In 2020, when crude prices plummeted and energy consumption dropped during the pandemic, the average American's energy costs dropped by 19% – and that required a global, market-shaking catastrophe.)

Policy changes can influence prices at the pump and electricity prices, and a smaller decrease in costs is certainly in the realm of possibility. But it's not simple.

Trump has always argued that more drilling would lower prices for oil and gas, which industry experts say is true. The flip side is that lower prices would then discourage drilling and send prices back up, in the classic boom-and-bust cycle the oil industry is famous for.

Rock-bottom oil prices would also hurt the bottom line of the oil producers who have vocally supported Trump.

Trump's support for exporting natural gas, a priority for the oil and gas industry, could also put upward pressure on consumer costs, according to a recent report from the Department of Energy; oil industry advocates have accused that report, released at the end of the Biden administration, of being politically motivated.