Trump to Keep Oil Permits Moving in Shutdown
But Work on Some Renewable Energy Projects Will Halt
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The Trump administration plans to allow permits for oil drilling and other work on “priority conventional energy projects” to continue during the government shutdown, while work on some renewable energy projects will halt.
The Interior Department, which is furloughing thousands of workers, will keep processing permits for new oil and gas projects, coal leases and other energy work, according to its shutdown plan. The department’s Bureau of Land Management, which oversees about 245 million acres of public land, said staffers handling those issues are exempt from furloughs in part to address a national energy emergency that President Donald Trump declared earlier this year.
The agency has scheduled dozens of oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska, and will continue work on those plans despite the shutdown that began Oct. 1. Its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which expects to furlough over 70% of its workers, said it will use carryover funds to keep employees working on “priority conventional energy projects,” including offshore drilling permits. Work on renewable energy projects will cease, according to the agency, which has oversight over offshore energy development.
The moves reflect Trump’s broader push this year to bolster oil and gas while scaling back federal support for renewables, a strategy that has shaped regulatory rollbacks, tax policy and energy permitting.
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The shutdown has sidelined hundreds of thousands of federal workers and stalled functions from processing drug applications to collecting census data.
Federal agencies have some discretion in deciding what is considered essential during a shutdown. Trump made similar choices during the 35-day shutdown in his first term, ensuring work on permits to drill on federal lands and waters continued. By contrast, former president Barack Obama canceled at least one oil and gas auction and halted federal drilling permits during a 16-day shutdown in 2013.
