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EO 13990Executive OrderBiden · D

Executive Order 13990

Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science To Tackle the Climate Crisis

This executive order establishes climate action and environmental justice as core federal priorities, directing agencies to review and reverse Trump-era environmental rollbacks from 2017-2021. It revokes the Keystone XL pipeline permit, restores Arctic drilling protections, initiates national monument boundary reviews, creates an Interagency Working Group to establish social costs of greenhouse gases, and suspends or revokes numerous prior executive orders on energy infrastructure and environmental regulation.

Federal Register Open PDF 86 FR 7037

Impact dates

  1. Working Group recommendations on updating process and methodology revisions

  2. Final SCC, SCN, SCM published; Federal Implementation Plan for 5 states proposed

  3. Oil/gas methane emission standards for existing operations proposed

  4. Working Group recommendations on SCC/SCN/SCM application

  5. Coal/oil utility air pollutant reconsideration proposed

  6. SAFE Vehicles Rule for MY 2021-2026 reconsideration proposed

  7. Remaining appliance/building efficiency revisions proposed

  8. IECC and ASHRAE building efficiency determinations reconsidered

  9. SAFE Vehicles Rule Part One reconsideration proposed

  10. Updated OMB list due (actions completing by Dec 31, 2025)

  11. National monument review report to President

  12. Interim SCC, SCN, SCM published; preliminary OMB list due

Key directives

  • Immediately review all agency actions from Jan 20, 2017-Jan 20, 2021 inconsistent with environmental/climate policy
  • Consider suspending, revising, or rescinding identified agency actions
  • Publish proposed rules for 4 categories of specific regulations by specified dates
  • Submit preliminary OMB list (actions completing by Dec 31, 2021) within 30 days
  • Submit updated OMB list (actions completing by Dec 31, 2025) within 90 days
  • EPA to propose methane standards for existing oil/gas operations by September 2021
  • EPA to propose Federal Implementation Plan for CA, CT, NY, PA, TX by January 2022
  • Review Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Northeast Canyons/Seamounts monuments; report within 60 days
  • Place temporary moratorium on Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain leasing program
  • Reinstate Executive Order 13754 and December 20, 2016 memorandum on Arctic offshore withdrawals
  • Revoke Keystone XL pipeline permit
  • Revoke 7 executive orders and 3 presidential memoranda; partially revoke EO 13834

Who is ordered

Timeline

Immediate

  • Revocation of Keystone XL pipeline permit
  • Temporary moratorium on Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil/gas leasing activities
  • Reinstatement of Obama-era Arctic offshore drilling withdrawals
  • Suspension of Executive Order 13920 (bulk-power system) for 90 days
  • Revocation of 7 executive orders and 3 presidential memoranda
  • Agency heads to immediately review regulations from Jan 20, 2017-Jan 20, 2021

Near term (90d)

  • Interim social cost of carbon/methane/nitrous oxide due within 30 days (Feb 19, 2021)
  • Preliminary OMB list of actions due by Dec 31, 2021 due within 30 days (Feb 19, 2021)
  • National monument review report due within 60 days (Mar 21, 2021)
  • Updated OMB list of actions due by Dec 31, 2025 due within 90 days (Apr 20, 2021)
  • Major appliance/building efficiency revisions proposed by March 2021
  • Remaining appliance/building efficiency revisions proposed by June 2021
  • SAFE Vehicles Rule Part One reconsideration by April 2021
  • IECC and ASHRAE building efficiency determinations by May 2021
  • SAFE Vehicles Rule for MY 2021-2026 reconsideration by July 2021

Long term

  • Coal/oil utility air pollutant reconsideration by August 2021
  • Oil/gas methane emission standards for existing operations by September 2021
  • Working Group recommendations on SCC/SCN/SCM application by September 1, 2021
  • Final social cost values by January 2022
  • Federal Implementation Plan for 5 states by January 2022
  • Working Group recommendations on updating methodology by June 1, 2022

Risks & tensions

  • Legal challenges likely to Keystone XL revocation, Arctic moratorium, and monument restorations based on prior administration's regulatory justifications
  • Oil/gas industry and some states may resist methane regulations and Arctic withdrawal reinstatements
  • Tight timelines for rulemaking (some within months) may strain agency analytical capacity and invite procedural challenges
  • 'As appropriate and consistent with applicable law' qualifiers throughout create implementation uncertainty—agencies retain discretion
  • Social cost of carbon methodology choices carry trillion-dollar implications for regulatory cost-benefit analyses; politically contested
  • Environmental justice emphasis may conflict with expedited timelines for technical rulemaking
  • Suspension of EO 13920 (bulk-power system) for 90 days with potential replacement creates brief cybersecurity uncertainty window
Executive Order 13990: Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science To Tackle the Climate Crisis · Executive Orders