Recent action by the Trump administration has made historic strides to free up energy production, reduce burdensome regulations, and repeal harmful and unnecessary rules. 

In particular, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and Energy Secretary Chris Wright have made significant progress in reducing the regulatory pressure on energy production. From the EPA’s “biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history” to the notable reduction of “47 burdensome and costly regulations” by the DOE, the administration has effectively moved the country from a net-zero to energy dominance focus.

To make this progress permanent, Congress must do its part to codify these gains, get government out of the way, and allow free markets to expand energy supplies and reduce costs for American families and businesses.

But that is easier said than done. It’s been a long road to regain a focus on affordable, reliable energy, as many executive-branch rulemakings over the past 15 years effectively cut Congress out. Those bureaucratic rules imposed harmful regulatory burdens that limited domestic energy production, forcing the nation to rely on strategic competitors for solar panels, wind turbines, and critical minerals. The result was spiking energy prices and the growing threat of blackouts and shortages.

Administrator Zeldin and Secretary Wright have now repealed the endangerment finding and used Section 202 of the Federal Power Act to stabilize the grid by keeping existing coal plants running. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has also opened federal lands to bids for oil, gas, and coal production.

But the positive progress made by the Trump administration remains vulnerable to being overturned by a future administration. When Congress drags its feet on cementing these policies, the result is a 2-to-4-year cycle of regulatory whiplash that hurts American businesses and families.

Congress has the constitutional authority and the responsibility to legislate these changes, making any return to harmful decarbonization mandates, energy shortages, and high prices much more difficult.

There are several clear policies that Congress can legislate to provide a more certain future foundation for American businesses and consumers. To start, Congress can clarify the original intent of existing legislation, like Section 111 of the Clean Air Act. The original authors of this Act stated unequivocally that they never intended the bill to regulate greenhouse gases. However, actions by federal agencies metastasized the bill well beyond its original intent.

Congress should also move to codify the rescission of the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS), which did little to nothing to protect the environment or human health (the 2012 version of this rule had already accomplished this by cutting mercury emissions from coal plants by 90%). The only thing the 2024 MATS rule amendments would have accomplished was increased prices and growing instability in the electric grid.

To further address the loss of reliable electricity supplies, Congress can also create a safe harbor for existing, and at-risk, coal plants. This would allow regional grid operators to require these plants to continue running when grid reliability is threatened by their closure. When an equal, or more, reliable and affordable generation option was ready to replace the coal plant, it could be closed.

Building on this, Congress should also codify the intent of the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, ensuring that American utility bills don’t expand to cover the cost of building new data centers or other new large loads.  They should focus on passing legislation to fast-track permitting for new dispatchable — that is, trustworthy regardless of the weather — generation. They should also reform the Jones Act, a 1920 law requiring that goods shipped between U.S. ports travel on American-built, American-crewed vessels. This law has made it cheaper to import foreign energy than to move our own, which restricts the free movement of much-needed energy around the nation.

Affordable and reliable energy is a basic aspect of a prosperous society; it’s not a luxury, it’s a necessity. It’s time to deliver relief for Americans by acting on these common-sense policies.

This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.