Tell DOE: Don't Put an Expiration Date on Climate Progress

For decades, federal energy-efficiency standards have helped Americans save money, waste less energy, and reduce the pollution driving climate change.

Thanks to these protections, families have benefited from more efficient appliances, lower utility bills, and cleaner air. And because using less energy means burning less fossil fuel, these standards have become one of the federal government's most effective tools for cutting climate pollution.

Now, the Department of Energy is proposing a sweeping new policy that could put many federal energy regulations on an expiration clock. This would raise energy consumption, raise rates, and continue cooking the planet. 

Under the proposal, regulations issued under major energy laws—including the Energy Policy Act of 1992, the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, and the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act—could automatically expire unless DOE takes action to extend them.

DOE says the goal is to ensure regulations are periodically reviewed. But there is an important difference between reviewing regulations and putting them on a path toward expiration.

This proposal would radically change the rules midstream. Instead of remaining in effect unless they are revised or repealed through a public process, covered regulations could expire unless DOE affirmatively renews them.

That may sound like a procedural change. But when the regulations at issue help save energy, lower costs, and reduce pollution, the stakes are much bigger than paperwork.

At a time when communities across America are facing increasingly costly heat waves, floods, droughts, wildfires, and other extreme weather events linked in part to climate change, we should be building on successful climate and energy policies—not creating new risks that they could lapse.

Climate change is a long-term challenge. The policies that help address it should have a stable future, not one that changes based on the political whims of the current administration. 

Please sign the petition to Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright demanding that these programs be strengthened – not forced into expiration.

The petition to Energy Secretary Wright reads: I urge the Department of Energy to withdraw any proposal that could weaken climate progress by placing energy-efficiency, conservation, or other climate-related regulations on an automatic path toward expiration. Regulations that save energy, reduce pollution, lower consumer costs, and serve the public interest should remain in force unless a transparent, evidence-based public process demonstrates that changes are necessary. America cannot afford to put arbitrary expiration dates on climate progress.

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Source:

https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2026/05/29/doe-moves-to-sunset-outdated-regulations-00941976