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Executive Order 12038 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.33) 📜 Art. II §2: Diplomatic & Foreign Policy Prerogative

Executive Order 12038—Department of Energy

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Friday, February 3, 1978
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8 min read (1,580 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 8 min read (1,580 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

In accordance with the transfer of all functions vested by law in the Federal Energy Administration, or the Administrator thereof, to the Secretary of Energy pursuant to Section 301 (a) of the Department of Energy Organization Act, hereinafter referred to as the Act, the Executive Orders and Proclamations referred to in this Section, which conferred authority or responsibility upon the Administrator of the Federal Energy Administration, are amended as follows: (a) Executive Order No. 11647, as amended, relating to Federal Regional Councils, is further amended by deleting "The Federal Energy Administration" in Section 1 (a) (10) and substituting "The Department of Energy", and by deleting "The Deputy Administrator of the Federal Energy…

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 Art. II §2: Diplomatic & Foreign Policy Prerogative
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners Foreign Nations & International Entities

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

Signed by President Jimmy Carter on February 3, 1978, this order concerns Department of Energy. Functions of the Federal Energy Administration. In accordance with the transfer of all functions vested by law in the Federal Energy Administration, or the Administrator thereof, to the Secretary of Energy pursuant to Section 301 (a) of the Department of Energy Organization Act, hereinafter referred to as the Act, the Executive Orders and Proclamations referred to in this Section, which conferred authority or…

Constitutional Assessment: This action represents an orderly exercise of Article II administrative discretion, managing the internal machinery and personnel of the executive branch without abridging the ancient liberties of the people.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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In accordance with the transfer of all functions vested by law in the Federal Energy Administration, or the Administrator thereof, to the Secretary of Energy pursuant to Section 301 (a) of the Department of Energy Organization Act, hereinafter referred to as the Act, the Executive Orders and Proclamations referred to in this Section, which conferred authority or responsibility upon the Administrator of the Federal Energy Administration, are amended as follows: (a) Executive Order No. 11647, as amended, relating to Federal Regional Councils, is further amended by deleting "The Federal Energy Administration" in Section 1 (a) (10) and substituting "The Department of Energy", and by deleting "The Deputy Administrator of the Federal Energy…

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Executive Order No. 11790 of June 25, 1974, relating to the Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974, is amended by deleting "Administrator of the Federal Energy Administration" and "Administrator" wherever they appear in Sections I through 6 and substituting "Secretary of Energy" and "Secretary", respectively, and by deleting Sections 7 through 10.

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Executive Order No. 11912, as amended, relating to energy policy and conservation, and Proclamation No. 3279, as amended, relating to imports of petroleum and petroleum products, are further amended by deleting "Administrator of the Federal Energy Administration", "Federal Energy Administration", and "Administrator" (when used in reference to the Federal Energy Administration) wherever those terms appear and by substituting "Secretary of Energy", "Department of Energy", and "Secretary", respectively, and by deleting "and the Administrator of Energy Research and Development" in Section 1 (b) of Executive Order No. 11912, as amended.

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In accordance with the transfer of functions vested in the Federal Power Commission to the Secretary of Energy pursuant to Section 301 (b) of the Act, the Executive Orders referred to in this Section, which conferred authority or responsibility upon the Federal Power Commission, or Chairman thereof, are amended or modified as follows: (a) Executive Order No. 10485 of September 3, 1953, relating to certain facilities at the borders of the United States is amended by deleting Section 2 thereof, and by deleting "Federal Power Commission" and "Commission" wherever those terms appear in Sections 1, 3 and 4 of such Order and substituting for each "Secretary of Energy".

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities
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The Framers' Constitutional Council

1787 Prism

Evaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.

🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority)
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"When the President acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"The constitutional magistracy was designed not to invent policy, but to be the faithful instrument of the laws passed by the people's representatives." — Speech in the First Congress (1789)

Madison would approve the structural posture of this order. The President acts strictly in subordination to statutory authority granted under Article II, Section 3 ("take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed"). The checks and balances hold firm because the policy origin remains with the legislature.

Madisonian Stance: Concurring (Statutory)
AH

Alexander Hamilton

The Energetic Executive & Unified Command

"A feeble Executive implies a feeble execution of the government; and a government ill executed, whatever it may be in theory, must be, in practice, a bad government." — Federalist No. 70 (1788)

Hamilton would view this directive as the natural and indispensable functioning of administrative leadership. Without the power to coordinate agencies, manage personnel, and resolve operational ambiguities, the modern presidency would be reduced to an impotent figurehead.

Hamiltonian Stance: Supportive of Execution
GM

George Mason

Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment

"The president will be surrounded by flatterers and sycophants... and the great powers of the executive will gradually absorb the liberties of the people." — Cato IV (Anti-Federalist, 1787)

The Anti-Federalist prism advises continuous democratic vigilance. Even routine administrative directives aggregate centralized federal power away from town halls and state assemblies toward a distant executive apparatus.

Anti-Federalist Stance: Eternal Vigilance Required
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Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions

An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.

🛡️ High Constitutional Concordance
28 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Low Friction

Operates within delegated statutory execution without modifying legislative appropriations or taxing powers.

Benchmark: Power of the purse, taxes/tariffs, and rule of law reserved to Congress.
Dimension 2 • Art. II, §1 & §3

Executive Scope & Faithfulness

Moderate Friction

Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.

Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment

Federalism & State Sovereignty

Moderate Friction

Engages state and local partners in cooperative federalism programs.

Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.
Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments

Due Process & Individual Rights

Low Friction

Focuses on internal governmental operations with no direct impairment of private rights or property.

Benchmark: Protection of private property, contracts, liberty, and procedural justice.
Dimension 5 • Separation of Powers

Youngstown Jacksonian Tier

Low Friction

The President operates strictly as the constitutional Chief Executive, carrying out policy established by Congress with strong statutory backing.

Benchmark: Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
⚖️ Audit Synthesis

This order operates in close harmony with statutory authority and standard Article II supervisory execution.

Weighted composite: Art. I (25%), Art. II (25%), Federalism (15%), Due Process (15%), Youngstown (20%).
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How to read these dimensions: Executive power expands whenever an administration acts without explicit statutory authorization from Congress (Article I), touches upon police powers historically reserved to the states (Tenth Amendment), or limits private rights and property without judicial process. A low friction score indicates strict concordance with enacted law; a high friction score highlights orders testing the limits of presidential discretion.
Total Words
1,580
10,324 characters
Estimated Read Time
8 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
17.4
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.33
Constitutional Fidelity
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

RELATING TO CERTAIN FUNCTIONS TRANSFERRED TO THE SECRETARY OF ENERGY BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ORGANIZATION ACT By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States of America, in order to reflect the responsibilities of the Secretary of Energy for the performance of certain functions previously vested in other officers of the United States by direction of the President and subsequently transferred to the Secretary of Energy pursuant to the Department of Energy Organization Act (91 Stat. 565; 42 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.), it is hereby ordered as follows: SECTION 1. Functions of the Federal Energy Administration. In accordance with the transfer of all functions vested by law in the Federal Energy Administration, or the Administrator thereof, to the Secretary of Energy pursuant to Section 301 (a) of the Department of Energy Organization Act, hereinafter referred to as the Act, the Executive Orders and Proclamations referred to in this Section, which conferred authority or responsibility upon the Administrator of the Federal Energy Administration, are amended as follows: (a) Executive Order No. 11647, as amended, relating to Federal Regional Councils, is further amended by deleting "The Federal Energy Administration" in Section 1 (a) (10) and substituting "The Department of Energy", and by deleting "The Deputy Administrator of the Federal Energy Administration" in Section 3(a) (10) and substituting "The Deputy Secretary of Energy". (b) Executive Order No. 11790 of June 25, 1974, relating to the Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974, is amended by deleting "Administrator of the Federal Energy Administration" and "Administrator" wherever they appear in Sections I through 6 and substituting "Secretary of Energy" and "Secretary", respectively, and by deleting Sections 7 through 10. (c) Executive Order No. 11912, as amended, relating to energy policy and conservation, and Proclamation No. 3279, as amended, relating to imports of petroleum and petroleum products, are further amended by deleting "Administrator of the Federal Energy Administration", "Federal Energy Administration", and "Administrator" (when used in reference to the Federal Energy Administration) wherever those terms appear and by substituting "Secretary of Energy", "Department of Energy", and "Secretary", respectively, and by deleting "and the Administrator of Energy Research and Development" in Section 1 (b) of Executive Order No. 11912, as amended. SEC. 2. Functions of the Federal Power Commission. In accordance with the transfer of functions vested in the Federal Power Commission to the Secretary of Energy pursuant to Section 301 (b) of the Act, the Executive Orders referred to in this Section, which conferred authority or responsibility upon the Federal Power Commission, or Chairman thereof, are amended or modified as follows: (a) Executive Order No. 10485 of September 3, 1953, relating to certain facilities at the borders of the United States is amended by deleting Section 2 thereof, and by deleting "Federal Power Commission" and "Commission" wherever those terms appear in Sections 1, 3 and 4 of such Order and substituting for each "Secretary of Energy". (b) Executive Order No. 11969 of February 2, 1977, relating to the administration of the Emergency Natural Gas Act of 1977, is hereby amended by deleting the second sentence in Section 1, by deleting "the Secretary of the Interior, the Administrator of the Federal Energy Administration, other members of the Federal Power Commission and" in Section 2, and by deleting "Chairman of the Federal Power Commission" and "Chairman" wherever those terms appear and substituting therefor "Secretary of Energy" and "Secretary", respectively. (c) Paragraph (2) of Section 3 of Executive Order No. 11331, as amended, relating to the Pacific Northwest River Basins Commission, is hereby amended by deleting "from each of the following Federal departments and agencies" and substituting therefor "to be appointed by the head of each of the following Executive agencies", by deleting "Federal Power Commission" and substituting therefor "Department of Energy", and by deleting "such member to be appointed by the head of each department or independent agency he represents,". SEC. 3. Functions of the Secretary of the Interior. In accordance with the transfer of certain functions vested in the Secretary of the Interior to the Secretary of Energy pursuant to Section 302 of the Act, the Executive Orders referred to in this Section, which conferred authority or responsibility on the Secretary of the Interior, are amended or modified as follows: (a) Sections 1 and 4 of Executive Order No. 8526 of August 27, 1940, relating to functions of the Bonneville Power Administration, are hereby amended by substituting "Secretary of Energy" for "Secretary of the Interior", by adding "of the Interior" after "Secretary" in Sections 2 and 3, and by adding "and the Secretary of Energy," after "the Secretary of the Interior" wherever the latter term appears in

Section 5. #sec-5

(b) Executive Order No. 11177 of September 16, 1964, relating to the Columbia River Treaty, is amended by deleting "Secretary of the Interior" and "Department of the Interior" wherever those terms appear and substituting therefor "Secretary of Energy" and "Department of Energy", respectively. SEC. 4. Functions of the Atomic Energy Commission and the Energy Research and Development Administration. (a) In accordance with the transfer of all functions vested by law in the Administrator of Energy Research and Development to the Secretary of Energy pursuant to Section 301 (a) of the Act, the Executive Orders referred to in this Section are amended or modified as follows: (1) All current Executive Orders which refer to functions of the Atomic Energy Commission, including Executive Order No. 10127, as amended; Executive Order No. 10865, as amended; Executive Order No. 10899 of December 9, 1960; Executive Order No. 11057 of December 18, 1962; Executive Order No. 11477 of August 7, 1969; Executive Order No. 11752 of December 17, 1973; and Executive Order No. 11761 of January 17, 1974 are modified to provide that all such functions shall be exercised by (1) the Secretary of Energy to the extent consistent with the functions of the Atomic Energy Commission that were transferred to the Administrator of Energy Research and Development pursuant to the Energy Organization Act of 1974 (Public Law 93438; 88 Stat. 1233), and (2) the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to the extent consistent with the functions of the Atomic Energy Commission that were transferred to the Commission by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974. (2) Executive Order No. 11652, as amended, relating to the classification of national security matters, is further amended by substituting "Department of Energy" for "Energy Research and Development Administration" in Sections 2(A), 7(A) and 8 and by deleting "Federal Power Commission" in Section 2(B) (3). (3) Executive Order No. 11902 of February 2, 1976, relating to export licensing policy for nuclear materials and equipment, is amended by substituting "the Secretary of Energy" for "the Administrator of the United States Energy Research and Development Administration, hereinafter referred to as the Administrator" in Section l(b) and for the "Administrator" in Sections 2 and 3. (4) Executive Order No. 11905, as amended, relating to foreign intelligence activities, is further amended by deleting "Energy Research and Development Administration", "Administrator of the Energy Research and Development Administration", and "ERDA" wherever those terms appear and substituting "Department of Energy", "Secretary of Energy", and "DOE" respectively. (5) Section 3(2) of each of the following Executive Orders is amended by substituting "Department of Energy" for "Energy Research and Development Administration": (i) Executive Order No. 11345, as amended, establishing the Great Lakes River Basin Commission. (ii) Executive Order No. 11371, as amended, establishing the New England River Basin Commission. (iii) Executive Order No. 11578, as amended, establishing the Ohio River Basin Commission. (iv) Executive Order No. 11658, as amended, establishing the Missouri River Basin Commission. (v) Executive Order No. 11659, as amended, establishing the Mississippi River Basin Commission. SEC. 5. Special Provisions Relating to Emergency Preparedness and Mobilization Functions. (a) Executive Order No. 10480, as amended, is further amended by adding thereto the following new Sections: "SEC. 609. Effective October 1, 1977, the Secretary of Energy shall exercise all authority and discharge all responsibility herein delegated to or conferred upon (a) the Atomic Energy Commission, and (b) with respect to petroleum, gas, solid fuels and electric power, upon the Secretary of the Interior. "Sec. 610. Whenever the Administrator of General Services believes that the functions of an Executive agency have been modified pursuant to law in such manner as to require the amendment of any Executive order which relates to the assignment of emergency preparedness functions or the administration of mobilization programs, he shall promptly submit any proposals for the amendment of such Executive orders to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget in accordance with the provisions of Executive Order No. 11030, as amended.". (b) Executive Order No. 11490, as amended, is further amended by adding thereto the following new section: "Sec. 3016. Effective October 1, 1977, the Secretary of Energy shall exercise all authority and discharge all responsibility herein delegated to or conferred upon (a) the Federal Power Commission, (b) the Energy Research and Development Administration, and (c) with respect to electric power, petroleum, gas and solid fuels, upon the Department of the Interior.". SEC. 6. This Order shall be effective as of October 1, 1977, the effective date of the Department of Energy Organization Act pursuant to the provisions of Section 901 thereof and Executive Order No. 12009 of September 13, 1977, and all actions taken by the Secretary of Energy on or after October 1, 1977, which are consistent with the foregoing provisions are entitled to full force and effect. JIMMY CARTER The White House, February 3, 1978.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (6)

Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 12,038 (Feb. 3, 1978), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-12038-department-energy.