12. Department of Energy and Related Commissions · Minor
Refocus the Federal Energy Management Program on reliable, cost-effective energy
Printed page 369 12. Department of Energy and Related Commissions
“Focus the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) on ensuring that government buildings and operations have reliable and cost-effective energy. FEMP should stop using taxpayer dollars to force the purchase of more expensive and less reliable energy resources in the name of combating climate change.”
What has happened
- Attempted
DOE stayed the compliance date of the Clean Energy Rule a third time, to 2027-03-01, saying its review of the rule and of its implementation guidance "is still ongoing". Federal agencies need not design new buildings and major renovations to the fossil-fuel-reduction targets while the stay runs, but the restriction stands in 10 CFR parts 433 and 435 and no repeal has been proposed under the rulemaking whose title promises one. Still attempted: a suspension is a step, not a change to the object.
- Attempted
DOE extended the stay of the Clean Energy Rule's compliance date to 2026-09-01 and said it was now reviewing the rule itself, not only its implementation guidance. Despite the document's title, "Repeal of Fossil Fuel Restrictions for New Federal Buildings and Major Renovations of Federal Buildings", it is a notification of stay: the largest single FEMP mandate to buy more expensive energy on climate grounds stays on the books with its compliance date suspended, and no repeal has been proposed. Attempted, as the first stay was. FEMP itself has not been given a new charter: it survives as a program inside the Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation, and the statutory federal energy and water reduction goals it administers are untouched.
- DOE notification of stay, published under the title "Repeal of Fossil Fuel Restrictions for New Federal Buildings and Major Renovations of Federal Buildings" (RIN 1904-AG17) — compliance date for 10 CFR parts 433 and 435, subpart B, stayed until September 1, 2026
- DOE press release: Energy Department Announces Realignment of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation Programs
- DOE organization chart, updated August 3, 2026
- Attempted
DOE stayed the Clean Energy Rule for new federal buildings and major renovations, which had required federal buildings to eliminate on-site fossil-fuel use. The Federal Energy Management Program administers that requirement.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
Instrument: 10 CFR 433/435 (the Clean Energy Rule), not a document with FEMP’s name in the title.
FEMP now reports through CMEI, whose third pillar after the January 2026 realignment is the Office of Innovation, Affordability, and Consumer Choice, described as exercising DOE’s appliance standards and building codes authority with an emphasis on fact-based analysis and consumer choice.
Corrected 2026-09-06. On 2026-08-31 we recorded the 2026-04-20 document as a repeal on the strength of its title. Its action is “Notification of stay”, and RIN 1904-AG17 has produced nothing but stays (2026-04-20, 2026-09-02). partial comes down to attempted. Same correction, same documents, on #978.
- Action
- restrict
- Object
- Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP)
- ID
- 929