On March 28, President Donald Trump signed the presidential executive order on Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth. This executive order hopes to be the catalyst to “unleash America's $50 trillion in untapped shale, oil and natural gas reserves, plus hundreds of years in clean coal reserves.” And by doing so, it aims to make the United States the global leader in fossil-fuel production and achieve not just “energy independence,” but “energy dominance”—a phrase that was front and center during the Trump administration's (June 26–30, 2017), “Energy Week.” Although the coal industry has dominated the energy and environmental news, the Trump administration's “energy dominance” agenda will shape the future of the natural gas industry as well. With the administration's desire to emphasize domestic energy production, the regulatory environment for the natural gas industry will, no doubt, look different than it did a year ago.

Exploration Restrictions Will Ease

The Trump administration has already made proposals to reverse or eliminate the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) rule, which tightened standards on gas well construction, governed the disposal of fracking waste and required disclosure on the fracking chemicals used. The Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is acting under pressure from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, where DOI has requested that the legal challenge to the current fracking rule be stayed pending the drafting and promulgation of a new rule (Wyoming v. Zinke, 10th Cir., No. 16-8068). Indeed, on June 17, the BLM sent a notice of proposed rulemaking regarding fracking on federal lands to the Office of Management and Budget for its review. Should this result in a relaxing of the BLM's regulations on fracking on federal lands, an increase in the exploration of both natural gas and crude oil is expected. These regulatory changes will increase the supply of natural gas over the medium-term.

In addition, on May 26, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it was suspending and reconsidering for 90 days a 2016 EPA regulation that limits methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. The EPA stated that it wants to give the oil and gas industry a second chance to comment on the rule. Following up on that announcement, on June 16, the EPA announced that it was taking steps to ensure that those regulations remain stayed while the agency works through the reconsideration process. In order to reconsider the regulations properly, the EPA announced that it was staying the regulations for two years.

Finally, the Trump administration is seeking permission to use seismic air guns to find oil and gas formations underneath the Atlantic Ocean floor. This request reverses the Obama administration's policy, which found that the seismic air guns disturb and injure oceanic life in general and whales in particular.

Export Restrictions Will Be Lifted

New exploration and fewer regulations will add fresh supply of natural gas to an already oversupplied market. Increasing exports, many feel, will take care of the glut of natural gas. However, exports of natural gas—in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG)—have also been hampered by regulatory oversight. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) currently has more than dozen LNG export companies waiting for it to complete its environmental and safety review, which can take up to a year. Once FERC's approval is obtained, the Department of Energy (DOE) must also review the project before it can move forward. More than two dozen LNG export firms are waiting for the Department of Energy to sign off on their projects. The Trump administration wants to break-up this regulatory logjam.