President Trump is starting his own government-wide environmental sustainability and energy efficiency program through an executive order he signed late on Thursday.
The order directs federal agencies to manage their buildings, vehicles, and overall operations in order to “optimize energy and environmental performance, reduce waste, and cut costs,” according to the White House.
It also calls on the White House Council of Environmental Quality to streamline pre-existing environmental orders by “refocusing agencies on cost-effectively meeting mandates and goals” established by law, as opposed to executive fiat.
The White House pointed out that the federal government manages more than 350,000 buildings and 600,000 vehicles and is the largest consumer of energy in the nation. The federal government spent over $6 billion on energy for buildings and $635 million on water, it added.
The order seeks to consolidate requirements related to energy and water efficiency, high performance buildings, renewable energy consumption, purchasing, and federal vehicle fleet management.
“It emphasizes meeting statutory requirements, and gives greater flexibility and discretion to agencies to decide how to best improve operations and meet goals,” according to a fact sheet. “It also encourages agencies, where appropriate, to use performance contracting to modernize buildings and achieve energy and water goals at no upfront cost to the Government.”
The administration is also taking actions to facilitate and simplify agency compliance under the order.
The order directs Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and Energy Secretary Rick Perry to work together to review all relevant government-wide energy and environmental guidances issued by their agencies and develop a plan “to modify, replace, or rescind” them in order to facilitate implementation of Trump’s new order.
Perry and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis are directed to review existing federal vehicle fleet requirements and report to the White House with a plan on how to optimize fleet performance and reduce costs.
