Trump Executive Order Opens Door For Federal Eminent Domain
Executive Order also INCREASES Ethanol Production Mandate, which will make the 45Q tax credit even more profitable for CO2 pipeline companies.
***Warning: the following information may be upsetting to those who had hope President Trump would slow down the Republican CO2 Agenda.***
In a dual blow to conservatives who hoped that the Second Trump Administration would reduce federal subsidies and protect property rights, President Trump has signed an executive order that would increase the production of ethanol by federal mandate, while simultaneously opening the door to a massive expansion of federal eminent domain power.
Mandate To Boost Ethanol Production
This increased ethanol production will lead to higher CO2 generation, which will allow investors in carbon capture to have an even bigger treasure chest at the end of the rainbow.
Ironically, this executive order expands a Biden Administration policy:
President Donald Trump on Jan. 20 issued an executive order declaring a national energy emergency. One component of the order directs the U.S. EPA to consider issuing emergency fuel waivers to allow year-round E15 sales.
Section 2(b) of the order directs the EPA, in consultation with the U.S. Department of Energy, to “consider issuing emergency fuel waivers to allow the year-round sale of E15 gasoline to meet any projected temporary shortfalls in the supply of gasoline across the nation.”
Similar emergency fuel waivers were issued by the EPA in 2022, 2023 and 2024, allowing E15 to continue to be sold during the summer driving season.
By expanding this waiver, it will, by federal edict, increase the demand for ethanol and increase the economic viability of carbon capture schemes seeking to capture the Federal 45Q tax credit.
This should not come as a shock to those who have followed the issue, and how President Trump is putting former-Governor Doug Burgum in charge of energy policy.
In fact, some environmentalists are relishing the fact that corporate subsidies and corporate profits may act as a Trojan Horse for environmental policies:
The next administration may or may not decide to take an interest in carbon capture, of course, but there’s reason to expect it will. Doug Burgum, Trump’s pick for the Department of the Interior who will also head up a new National Energy Council, has been a vocal supporter of carbon capture projects in his home state of North Dakota. Although Trump’s team will be looking for subsidies to cut in order to offset the tax breaks he has promised, his deep-pocketed supporters in the oil and gas industry who have made major investments in carbon capture based, in part, on the 45Q tax credit, will not want to see it on the chopping block. And carbon capture typically enjoys bipartisan support in Congress.
Congress first created the carbon capture tax credit in 2008, under the auspices of cleaning up the image of coal plants. Lawmakers updated the credit in 2018, and then again in 2022 with the Inflation Reduction Act, each iteration increasing the credit amount and expanding the types of projects that are eligible. Companies can now get up to $85 for every ton of CO2 captured from an industrial plant and sequestered underground, and $180 for every ton captured directly from the air. Combined with grants and loans in the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the changes have driven a surge in carbon capture and storage projects in the United States. More than 150 projects have been announced since the start of 2022, according to a database maintained by the International Energy Agency, compared to fewer than 100 over the four years prior.
[…]
The incoming Congress and presidential administration could clear away some of these hurdles. Congress is already expected to get rid of or rewrite many of the IRA’s tax credit programs when it opens the tax code to address other provisions that expire next year. The Carbon Capture Coalition and other proponents are advocating for another increase to the value of the 45Q tax credit to adjust it for inflation. Trump’s Treasury department will have free rein to issue rules that make the credit as cheap and easy as possible to claim. The EPA, under new leadership, could also speed up carbon storage permitting or, perhaps more likely, grant primacy over permitting to the states.
Separate Executive Order Expands Federal Eminent Domain Usage
In this executive order, a more problematic action is also occurring. While declaring a “National Energy Emergency”, President Trump paved the way for the federal government to use its eminent domain powers more liberally.
According to the Executive Order “Declaring A National Energy Emergency”:
Sec. 2. Emergency Approvals. (a) The heads of executive departments and agencies ("agencies") shall identify and exercise any lawful emergency authorities available to them, as well as all other lawful authorities they may possess, to facilitate the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, and generation of domestic energy resources, including, but not limited to, on Federal lands. If an agency assesses that use of either Federal eminent domain authorities or authorities afforded under the Defense Production Act (Public Law 81-774, 50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) are necessary to achieve this objective, the agency shall submit recommendations for a course of action to the President, through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.
This order could allow the Federal Government to over-ride the will of the people in states like South Dakota where the message has been sent clearly that the public does not support eminent domain and over-ruling local governments to promote CO2 pipelines.
It is no wonder why legislators in North Dakota are also attempting to blackmail local governments who choose to protect their residents and push back against the State of North Dakota’s desire to make the Summit Carbon Solutions CO2 pipeline a reality.
Senate Bill 2208 is part of the effort to continue to demonize those who are critical of the Summit Carbon Solutions CO2 pipeline.
This is also why the State of North Dakota will be re-educating the public on the wonders of the CO2 agenda.
Many had hoped that figures such as Vivek Ramaswamy would have influence over these policies given his strong stance during the primary and after he endorsed Donald Trump.
However his new plans to run for Governor of Ohio will distance him from the Trump orbit and reduce his influence as he will also no longer be a part of the DOGE effort to make the federal government more efficient.
This will clear the road for Doug Burgum as Secretary of the Interior to do federally what he set North Dakota on a path to do - become the dumping ground for other state’s CO2.
Not all Trump’s actions will be winners to all supporters. This one is a stinker.