Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
A 2025 GOP roadmap on energy emerging from Hill offices would upend existing climate and environmental regulation.
Why it matters: A flurry of recent reports and budget documents shows how GOP leaders would try to unite an unfocused political party around Trump-y energy policy.
Driving the news: Senate EPW Republicans dropped a report Thursday that quietly outlined a likely shortlist of priority regulations for repeal if Donald Trump wins. They are …
- Emissions standards on light-duty cars and heavy-duty trucks
- EPA's waiver allowing California to get more aggressive on vehicle emissions
- Greenhouse gas pollution standards on power plants
- Fresh soot standards on industrial sites, known as the PM2.5 rule
- The IRA's methane fee rule.
Between the lines: The report spotlights rules that EPW Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito disdains.
- If Trump wins and the GOP takes the Senate, she'll almost certainly chair the committee — so her demands will have a captive audience.
- A GOP committee aide told Jael that Capito has "consistently pointed" to these "particularly troublesome" rules.
Zoom in: The report from Capito's staff adds to the policy document that the Republican Study Committee released last month.
- The Study Committee proposes repeal of the IRA's energy tax credits, eliminating DOE's Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, and further slashing EPA's budget.
- Also on the table: the REINS Act and a huge suite of broader regulatory rollbacks targeting the Endangered Species Act, NEPA and the concept of Chevron deference.
- The House GOP's budget resolution has a similar set of offerings, and we probably don't have to tell you about the intense planning for a second Trump term happening off the Hill.
Our thought bubble: We continue to think that wholesale IRA repeal is off the table. But these documents give a sense of where Democrats will need to play defense if Trump wins and Republicans c0ntrol Congress.
