Since the election the legal community has investigated Trumps authority once sworn in to strike one several or all of the directives ordered by the Obama administration.
Travis Cushman associate with the Washington law firm of Kelley Drye & Warren conducted a webinar on the subject on Nov. 22. He said that executive orders issued by Obama are freely revocable but regulations could present a more complicated problem.
Also interpretive rules policy statements guidance documents and other regulatory documents can be easily revoked by the new administration according to Cushman.
The new President can place a moratorium on new rules withdraw proposed rules postpone effective dates of rules. He also can propose changes to rules that have been finalized but they must then go through the regulatory process all over again. Another weapon in the presidents arsenal is to order regulators to not enforce the new rules which can be controversial he said.
Members of the House and Senate can pass legislation to rescind amend or delay implementation but this can easily become bogged down with 435 members of the House and 100 members of the Senate involved in the process.
Cushman said Congress also can amend the statutory authority of the regulation or the agency involved in enforcement.
Members of Congress can simply deny funds to implement a regulation through the appropriation process. The appropriation process does not nullify the rule and it is binding for that fiscal year only. Agencies can circumvent the appropriation process by 
obtaining funds from fees and other sources or simply requiring implementation by states.
The Congressional Review Act enacted in 1990 requires that new regulations be submitted to the House and Senate and General Accounting Office before they take effect. Both chambers must reject the proposed rule along with the President in order to kill it. This has happened only once.
States and industry have filed numerous lawsuits against regulations already implemented by the current administration. One of those the Clean Power Plan was addressed in an analysis by David Rivkin Jr. and Andrew Grossman who practice appellate and Constitutional law in Washington and represent the state of Oklahoma which appeared in the Wall Street Journal.
Rivkin and Grossman believe that President Trump can immediately issue an Executive Order to adopt a new energy policy that respects the states role in regulating energy markets.
The order should direct EPA to cease all efforts to enforce and implement the Clean Power Plan. The EPA would then extend all of the regulations deadlines enter an administrative stay and commence regulatory proceedings to rescind the previous order.
Such actions would leave the courts with little choice but to send the legal challenges back to the agency which would effectively strip EPA of its legal power to enforce the regulation according to Rivkin and Grossman.
Of course environmental groups will counter with lawsuits but Rivkin and Grossman believe those would not be successful.
It definitely will be a new and different day at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue when Donald Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20th 2017.
Trump Victory Will Change U.S. Energy Policy
Astonishing! Incredible! Surprising! These are just some of the many words used to describe Donald Trumps defeat of Hillary Clinton on Nov. 8th.
What does it mean? We do know that there will be a reversal in energy policy from the previous eight years. Trump said during the campaign that the oil and natural gas industry is over-regulated by the federal government.
Our nations regulatory system is completely broken" Trump wrote in the October issue of The American Oil & Gas Reporter. Terrible rules are written by unelected unaccountable bureaucrats who often know nothing about the people they are regulating. The regulators have all the power. We have too many costly burdensome and unwise regulations that are bad for America and do little or no good."
Trump believes that the federal government has overreached its authority and many of the rules need be returned to the states.- He pledged to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement and to kill the Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) Clean Power Plan.
- He thinks the Endangered Species Act needs modification.
- He is a supporter of hydraulic fracturing
- increasing oil and natural gas production in the U.S.
- increased production on federal lands and offshore
- and improving of infrastructure (including pipelines).
- Tax reform will become a top priority.
- Trump will be able to make key appointments to federal courts including an appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The new president will be facing many challenges left by the Obama Administration. The Wall Street Journal cited a recent Congressional Budget Office report which warns of a large and growing federal budget problem. The annual budget deficit in 2016 rose from $439 billion to $587 billion a 34 increase.
Looking at the budget deficit another way the 2016 deficit is 3.2 of gross domestic product up from 2.5 last year.
Trump also inherits the issue of growing costs of Social Security Medicare and Medicaid which grew by $75 billion last year and now account for 10 of the entire U.S. economy the highest level ever and rising the WSJ stated.
Even though Republicans will have control of the Senate and House Trump will face many barriers as he tries to get the countrys economy moving in the right direction.
Already there have been protests and he hasnt even taken the oath of office. Environmental groups have pledged civil disobedience."
E&E News reported on Nov. 9 that the League of Conservation Voters NextGen Climate Action the Sierra Club and others groups collectively spent over $100 million working to elect pro-environment candidates are holding meetings in Washington to discuss strategy.
Other groups Food & Water Watch Friends of the Earth and 350.org all vowed that the environmental resistance will stand against Trump."
These environmental radicals will present a major obstacle in bringing the country closer together.
Alex Mills is President of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author. The Texas Alliance of Energy Producers is an oil & gas trade association that represents some 3000 members. It has offices in Austin Houston Fort Worth & Wichita Falls.
