Notice2025-08931
Regulatory Reform
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
May 20, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior Department
Abstract
The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) seeks comments and information to assist DOI, including the Bureaus and Offices established within DOI, in identifying existing regulations that can be modified or repealed, consistent with applicable law, to ensure that DOI administrative actions do not undermine the national interest and that DOI achieves a meaningful reduction in regulatory burdens while continuing to meet statutory obligations, advance American energy independence, and ensure the responsible stewardship of the Nation's public lands and resources. This RFI is part of DOI's implementation of recent directives from the President, including Executive orders, which seek to deconstruct the regulatory burden that has been self-imposed on our Nation's interests and improve the relevant processes to establish a more efficient regulatory program at DOI.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 96 (Tuesday, May 20, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 96 (Tuesday, May 20, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21504-21506]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-08931]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of the Secretary
[Docket No. DOI-2025-0005; 256D0102DM; DS6CS00000; DLSN00000.000000;
DX6CS25]
Regulatory Reform
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Interior.
ACTION: Request for Information (RFI).
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) seeks comments and
information to assist DOI, including the Bureaus and Offices
established within DOI, in identifying existing regulations that can be
modified or repealed, consistent with applicable law, to ensure that
DOI administrative actions do not undermine the national interest and
that DOI achieves a meaningful reduction in regulatory burdens while
continuing to meet statutory obligations, advance American energy
independence, and ensure the responsible stewardship of the Nation's
public lands and resources. This RFI is part of DOI's implementation of
recent directives from the President, including Executive orders, which
seek to deconstruct the regulatory burden that has been self-imposed on
our Nation's interests and improve the relevant processes to establish
a more efficient regulatory program at DOI.
DATES: Written comments and information are requested on or before June
20, 2025, which may be extended, through publication of a notice in the
Federal Register, for no more than 90 days.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons should submit ideas for cutting existing
regulations within the jurisdiction of DOI via <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/deregulation">https://www.regulations.gov/deregulation</a> and are also encouraged to submit
comments, identified by ``DOI Regulatory Reform RFI,'' by any of the
following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. Follow the
instructions for submitted comments to DOI-2025-0005, which is the
docket established for this RFI.
Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#f5bc9b8190879c9a87dba79092809994819a878cbc9b939ab5919a9cdb929a83"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="93dafde7f6e1fafce1bdc1f6f4e6fff2e7fce1eadafdf5fcd3f7fcfabdf4fce5">[email protected]</span></a>. Include ``DOI Regulatory
Reform RFI'' in the subject line of the message.
Mail: U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor,
1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20240.
All comments received will be posted without change to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, including any personal information provided.
Electronic Access and Filing
This document and all comments received may be viewed online
through the Federal eRulemaking portal at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>
using the docket number listed above. Electronic retrieval help and
guidelines are also available at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. An
electronic copy of this document may also be downloaded from the Office
of the Federal Register's website at <a href="http://www.FederalRegister.gov">www.FederalRegister.gov</a> and the
U.S. Government Publishing Office's website at <a href="http://www.GovInfo.gov">www.GovInfo.gov</a>. All
comments received before the close of business on the comment closing
date indicated above will be considered and will be available for
examination in the docket
[[Page 21505]]
at the above address. Comments received after the comment closing date
will be filed in the docket and will be considered to the extent
practicable.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jacob Tyner, U.S. Department of the
Interior, Office of the Solicitor, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC
20240. Telephone: (202) 208-3100. Email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e9a0879d8c9b80869bc7bb8c8e9c85889d869b90a0878f86a98d8680c78e869f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="97def9e3f2e5fef8e5b9c5f2f0e2fbf6e3f8e5eedef9f1f8d7f3f8feb9f0f8e1">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On his first day in office, the President
Trump made clear that it is in the national interest to unleash
America's affordable and reliable energy and natural resources through
Executive Order (E.O.) 14154, ``Unleashing American Energy'' (90 FR
8353; Jan. 29, 2025). Through E.O. 14154, the President established
that it is the policy of the United States to, among other policies,
``ensure that all regulatory requirements related to energy are
grounded in clearly applicable law'' and ``promote sound regulatory
decision making and prioritize the interests of the American people.''
E.O. 14154 required that the heads of all agencies review all
applicable agency actions to identify those agency actions that
``impose an undue burden on the identification, development, or use of
domestic energy resources . . . or that are otherwise inconsistent with
the policy set forth in'' E.O. 14154 and to develop and begin
implementing action plans to suspend, revise, or rescind all agency
actions identified as unduly burdensome . . . as expeditiously as
possible and consistent with applicable law.''
On February 3, 2025, the Secretary of the Interior issued
Secretary's Order No. 3418, which implements the requirements of E.O.
14154. Indeed, it directed all Assistant Secretaries to ``promptly
review all agency actions'' and submit to the Secretary an action plan
to consider how to comply with the policy described in section 3 of
E.O. 14154. The President then issued E.O. 14192, ``Unleashing
Prosperity through Deregulation'' (90 FR 9065; Feb. 6, 2025), on
January 31, 2025, which states that it is the policy of the executive
branch to be prudent and financially responsible in the expenditure of
funds, from both public and private sources, and to alleviate
unnecessary regulatory burdens placed on the American people.
E.O. 14192 also requires that for fiscal year 2026, and each fiscal
year thereafter, the head of each agency identify, on an aggregated
basis, for regulations that increase incremental cost, offsetting
regulations and provide the agency's best approximation of the total
costs or savings associated with each new regulation or repealed
regulation. The President further established that it is the policy of
the Administration to focus the executive branch's limited enforcement
resources on regulations explicitly authorized by constitutional
Federal statutes and commence the deconstruction of the overbearing and
burdensome administrative state through E.O. 14219, ``Ensuring Lawful
Regulation and Implementing the President's `Department of Government
Efficiency' Deregulatory Agenda'' (90 FR 10583; Feb. 25, 2025), and
requires that agencies identify and report to the Office of Information
and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) on regulations in one of several
categories.
To implement the relevant directives from the Administration, DOI
is taking two immediate steps:
1. As described in the next section, DOI is issuing this RFI
seeking public comment on ways to achieve a meaningful reduction in
regulatory burdens while continuing to achieve DOI's legal obligations,
mission, and regulatory objectives.
2. DOI has created an email inbox at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b8f1d6ccddcad1d7ca96eadddfcdd4d9ccd7cac1f1d6ded7f8dcd7d196dfd7ce"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="e2ab8c9687908b8d90ccb08785978e83968d909bab8c848da2868d8bcc858d94">[email protected]</span></a>, which interested parties can use to
identify to DOI--on a continuing basis--existing regulations that they
believe can be modified or repealed, consistent with law. Any comments
received will be placed in the docket for this RFI on <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. Together, these steps will help DOI ensure it acts
in a lawful, prudent, and financially responsible manner in the
expenditure of funds, from both public and private sources, and manages
appropriately the costs associated with private expenditures required
for compliance with DOI regulations.
Request for Information
For the purposes of this RFI, the term ``regulations'' includes,
but is not limited to, any rules, regulations, guidance, paperwork
requirements, processes, including methodology and modeling, or DOI-
imposed regulatory or administrative requirements that inhibit DOI's
ability to implement the Administration's policies and directives
described herein.
Pursuant to those directives, DOI is, through this RFI, seeking
input, as permitted by law, with respect to the appropriateness of its
regulatory requirements from the public, particularly entities
significantly affected by administrative actions of DOI, including
State, local, and tribal governments; small businesses; consumers; non-
governmental organizations; and other relevant entities.
DOI's goal is to create a systematic method for receiving public
comment regarding existing DOI regulations that are inconsistent with
law or Administration policy, as described in the relevant directives
from the Administration, including regulations that are obsolete,
unnecessary, unjustified, or simply no longer make sense. Consistent
with DOI's commitment to public participation in the rulemaking
process, DOI is soliciting views from the public on specific
regulations that should be altered or eliminated.
Members of the public are likely to have useful information and
perspectives on the benefits and burdens of existing requirements and
how regulatory obligations may be updated, streamlined, revised, or
repealed to better achieve DOI's legal obligations, mission, and policy
and regulatory requirements, while minimizing the associated burdens,
consistent with applicable law. Interested parties may also be well-
positioned to identify those regulations that are most in need of
reform, and, thus, assist DOI in prioritizing and properly tailoring
its review process.
DOI also seeks comments on DOI regulations that may be inconsistent
with:
1. E.O. 14153, ``Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource
Potential'' (90 FR 8347);
2. E.O. 14156, ``Declaring a National Energy Emergency'' (90 FR
8433);
3. E.O. 14213, ``Establishing the National Energy Dominance
Council'' (90 FR 9945);
4. E.O. 14224, ``Immediate Expansion of American Timber
Production'' (90 FR 11365);
5. E.O. 14241, ``Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral
Production'' (90 FR 13673);
6. E.O. 14260, ``Protecting American Energy from State Overreach''
(90 FR 15513);
7. E.O. 14261, ``Reinvigorating America's Beautiful Clean Coal
Industry and Amending E.O. 1424'' (90 FR 15517);
8. E.O. 14267, ``Reducing Anti-Competitive Regulatory Barriers''
(90 FR 15629);
9. E.O. 14270, ``Zero-Based Regulatory Budgeting to Unleash
American Energy'' (90 FR 14643); or
10. Any other executive action issued by the President that
furthers the purpose of this RFI.
[[Page 21506]]
List of Questions for Commenters
To allow DOI to evaluate suggestions more effectively, DOI is
requesting that commenter provide, to the extent possible:
<bullet> A succinct summary of the commenter's proposal, including
responses to the questions described below and describing the appliable
Bureau(s) or Offices(s) that would implement the proposal;
<bullet> Supporting data or other information such as cost
information; and
<bullet> Specific suggestions regarding repeal, replacement, or
modification.
The following list of questions will help assist with DOI's
identification of regulations. This non-exhaustive list is meant to
assist in the formulation of comments and is not intended to restrict
the issues that may be addressed. In addressing these questions or
others, DOI requests that commenters identify with specificity the
regulation at issue, providing legal citations where available. DOI
also requests that the submitter provide, in as much detail as
possible, an explanation of why a regulation, guidance, or reporting
requirement should be modified, streamlined, or repealed, as well as
specific suggestions of ways DOI can do so while achieving its legal
obligations, mission, and policy and regulatory requirements.
Submitters are encouraged to provide economic data to demonstrate the
cost of complying with existing regulations, as well as the savings
that a change might provide.
1. Are there any regulations commenters can identify that fall
within the seven categories outlined in E.O. 14219? If so, how does any
particular regulation fall within one or more of those categories?
Would repeal or modification (and if so, please describe what
modification) advance the policies of the order, consistent with law?
2. Are there regulations that simply make no sense or have become
unnecessary, ineffective, or ill-advised? If so, please identify them.
Are there regulations that can be repealed without impairing DOI's
ability to comply with its statutory obligations? If so, please
identify them.
3. Are there regulations that have become outdated and, if so, how
can they be modernized to better accomplish their objectives?
4. Are there regulations that are still necessary, but have not
operated as well as expected such that a modified, or slightly
different approach at lower cost is justified?
5. Are there regulations that unnecessarily obstruct, delay,
curtail, or otherwise impose significant costs on the siting,
permitting, or delivery of energy infrastructure projects?
6. Does DOI currently collect information that it does not need or
use effectively?
7. Are there regulations that are unnecessarily complicated or
could be streamlined to achieve statutory obligations in more efficient
ways? If so, what changes should be made?
8. Are there regulations that have been overtaken by technological
developments? Can new technologies be leveraged to modify, streamline,
or rescind existing regulations?
9. Are there any DOI regulations that are inconsistent with E.O.s
14151, 14154, 14168, 14213, or other E.O.s or directives issued by the
President, including those described earlier in this RFI? If so, what
modifications would ensure consistency with the orders and applicable
law?
DOI notes that this RFI is issued solely for informational and
program-planning purposes. While responses to this RFI do not bind DOI
to any further actions related to the response, all submissions will be
made publicly available on <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Gregory Zerzan,
Acting Solicitor.
[FR Doc. 2025-08931 Filed 5-16-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4334-CC-P
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