12. Department of Energy and Related Commissions · Notable · Needs Congress

Eliminate the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM)

Not started

Printed page 377 12. Department of Energy and Related Commissions

“Eliminate FECM. The next Administration should work with Congress to eliminate all of DOE’s applied energy programs, including those in FECM (with the possible exception of those that are related to basic science for new energy technology).”

What has happened

Aug 31, 2026 Not started
FECM was renamed, not eliminated. The November 2025 realignment made it the Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office, performing the same statutory functions — fossil energy research and development, Natural Gas Act import and export regulation, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — and P.L. 119-74 appropriates $720,000,000 under the Fossil Energy heading for FY 2026. A rename is not an elimination (playbook 3b).
- DOE press release: Energy Department Announces Organizational Realignment to Strengthen Efficiency and Unleash American Energy
  Primary Executive branch Nov 20, 2025
- DOE Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office
  Primary Executive branch Nov 20, 2025
- Public Law 119-74, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026
  Primary Congress Jan 23, 2026

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

Requires-Congress ask: no bill to abolish FECM or the fossil energy programs was found in the 119th Congress bill file.

The piece that did move is the carbon-management half, recorded at #925 and #954.

Action: eliminate
Object: Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM)
ID: 956