DOE Withdraws, Delays Certain Deregulation Rulemaking Efforts

On its road to deregulation, the Department of Energy (DOE) has made a U-turn on one of its regulations pertaining to grants, while postponing some others, according to four issuances in the Sept. 10 Federal Register.

On May 16, the agency issued several final rules and proposed rules aiming to eliminate 47 agency regulations. While many of these issuances address household products (e.g., rescinding energy conservation standards for automatic commercial icemakers), several others affect federal financial assistance programs. DOE took these actions in response to President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) 14270, Zero-Based Regulation to Unleash American Energy, which is designed to “restore consumer freedom, lower costs and unleash American energy dominance.”

One of the final rules, specifically related to a Trump’s EO 14201, Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports, sought to amend existing nondiscrimination regulations that require certain DOE-funded recipients that sponsor sports teams for members of one sex to allow members of the opposite sex to try out for the team (10 C.F.R. §1042.450(b)). The agency aimed to rescind a requirement that states, “where a recipient operates or sponsors a team in a particular sport for members of one sex but operates or sponsors no such team for members of the other sex, and athletic opportunities for members of that sex have previously been limited, members of the excluded sex must be allowed to try out for the team offered unless the sport involved is a contact sport. For the purposes of these Title IX regulations, contact sports include boxing, wrestling, rugby, ice hockey, football, basketball and other sports the purpose or major activity of which involves bodily contact.’’

However, in an abrupt about face, the agency has now withdrawn this final rule. The agency said the withdrawal “does not preclude DOE from proposing regulatory changes in the future, including proposing a rule(s) that may be substantially identical or similar to those previously proposed,” but the agency is now stating that it “has decided to focus its limited resources on advancing other priorities.”

This was the only one that DOE withdrew today. Three others were given new effective dates. These were:

• A final rule that rescinds a regulation at 10 C.F.R. Part 800 that sets forth policies and procedures for the award and administration of loans to minority business enterprises, now becomes effective Dec. 9. The agency has determined that this regulation violates the ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, 600 U.S. 181, 230 (2023), addressing race in admissions programs.
• A final rule that rescinds certain regulatory provisions that the agency deems unnecessary related to nondiscrimination in federally assisted programs or activities (10 C.F.R. Part 1040) now becomes effective Nov. 9. The rule removes specific language about covered employment practices, the provision of information in appropriate languages, employment opportunity, now-obsolete transition plan provisions for complying with section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (see ¶512 in the Federal Grants Management Module), and redundant provisions to inform program participants about nondiscrimination.
• A final rule rescinding certain unnecessary regulatory provisions related to nondiscrimination on the basis of sex in education programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance (10 C.F.R. Part 1042) now becomes effective Nov. 9. The rule strikes regulations at 10 C.F.R. §1042.110(b) stating that ‘‘a recipient may take affirmative action consistent with law to overcome the effects of conditions that resulted in limited participation therein by persons of a particular sex.’’

Checking early access to tomorrow’s Federal Register, it looks like DOE is taking similar actions to some of its other deregulation motions it made back in May. Stay tuned to these changes!

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