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I don’t always agree with Donald Trump. In fact, regular readers of CleanTechnica know there’s plenty of daylight between his administration’s goals and clean transport advocacy. But, as they say, even a broken clock is correct twice a day. When a policy makes complete sense, you have to give credit where it’s due and support the policy. Back during his first term, his administration pushed a common-sense rule that should have been a slam dunk: opening up federal public lands to electric bikes.
But, as I’ll show you, the “deep state” earned its name on this one. Even now, after four years of Biden and then Trump coming back, they showed us all that Trump really doesn’t control anything without their blessing.
The Side-Stepped Directive
In 2019, then-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt signed Secretarial Order 3376. The directive wasn’t complicated. It told agencies like the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service to stop treating low-speed e-bikes like dirt bikes or gas-guzzling ATVs. If a trail allowed a traditional bicycle, it should allow an e-bike.
