Declaring a National Energy Emergency

The order declares a national energy emergency and directs the heads of all executive departments and agencies to identify and immediately use any lawful emergency authority available to them to expedite the leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, and generation of domestic energy resources, including on federal lands. It directs the EPA Administrator to consider issuing emergency fuel waivers for year-round E15 gasoline sales. It requires agencies to fast-track use of Army Corps of Engineers emergency permitting provisions under the Clean Water Act, the Rivers and Harbors Act, and related statutes, as well as Endangered Species Act emergency consultation rules, for energy-related actions. The ESA Committee must convene at least quarterly to review exemption applications and identify obstacles to energy infrastructure.

It directs the Secretary of Defense — in coordination with the Secretaries of Interior and Energy — to complete a vulnerability assessment of the military's ability to acquire and transport energy, with a focus on the Northeast and West Coast, and to submit it within 60 days. It explicitly invokes the military construction authority under 10 U.S.C. § 2808 so the Secretary of the Army can address infrastructure vulnerabilities identified in that assessment. Any recommended construction actions must be submitted to the President for review.

All federal agencies with energy, environmental, or defense portfolios; energy producers, pipeline operators, and refiners seeking federal permits or leases; states and localities whose energy infrastructure is identified as inadequate; and American consumers and businesses that depend on affordable, reliable domestic energy supply.

Declaring a national emergency unlocks special statutory powers that allow agencies to bypass or compress normal permitting and review timelines for energy projects. Invoking military construction authority is a significant additional step that could allow the Army to build energy infrastructure without standard congressional approval for individual projects.

Agencies first inventory which pending energy projects qualify for emergency treatment under Army Corps and ESA rules, then report to OMB, the National Economic Council, and CEQ within 30 days, with rolling 30-day status reports thereafter. The DoD feeds its vulnerability assessment to the National Security Advisor within 60 days, which triggers the Secretary of the Army's newly invoked construction authority. Recommendations requiring eminent domain or Defense Production Act use must go to the President through the National Security Advisor before action. The ESA Committee convenes quarterly; the OMB Director may waive reporting requirements at discretion.