Trump’s Energy Department ditches renewables, encourages consolidation in Cabinet reshuffle

The Trump administration this week unveiled a revamped regulatory scheme for the Department of Energy, one that gets rid of several offices focused on renewable energy while raising the bar for integration.

The amendment eliminates the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), the Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains, the Office of State and Community Energy Programs, the Office of Grid Deployment, and the Office of Federal Energy Administration Programs.

On the other side of the ledger, the Department of Energy created a new Office of Fusion and merged geothermal and fossil fuels under the Office of Hydrocarbons and Geothermal.

E&E News reports that some of these moves are likely to result in legal challenges, since there is at least one office involved in the reorganization process, the OECD’s, which was authorized by Congress under the bipartisan Infrastructure Act.

“The authority of Cabinet secretaries to move between key functions and offices is very limited, especially when those offices are created and funded through congressional action. Congress has placed strict limits on reorganizations, and plans typically require either congressional approval or opportunity for congressional review,” Donald Kettle, professor emeritus at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, told E&E News.

The motivation behind establishing the merger office was likely to encourage the commercialization of the technology. Previously, the merger had come under the Office of Science, which focused on research rather than commercialization.