Zero-Based Regulatory Budgeting to Unleash American Energy Act of 2025

The "Zero-Based Regulatory Budgeting to Unleash American Energy Act of 2025" mandates that specific federal agencies involved in energy and natural resources impose extendable expiration dates on their regulations. This applies to the Department of Energy, certain Department of the Interior offices (e.g., Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management), and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, covering regulations under various energy and environmental statutes. For existing covered regulations, agencies must amend them within 90 days to expire one year after the amendment's effective date. New covered regulations, promulgated after the Act's enactment, must expire no later than five years after their effective date, though an exemption is possible if the agency head determines the new regulation has a net deregulatory effect and notifies OMB. Agencies can extend a regulation's expiration date for up to five additional years, but this requires providing an opportunity for public comment on its costs and benefits and a subsequent determination that the extension is warranted. An exception allows extension without full public comment if an amendment to a regulation is found to have a net deregulatory effect . If a covered regulation's expiration date is not extended as prescribed, it will automatically lose all legal effect, prohibiting enforcement and requiring its removal from the Code of Federal Regulations. This mechanism aims to ensure systematic review and potential elimination of regulatory burdens.