Trump Keeps Oil Permits Moving in Shutdown, Halts Renewables

By Ari Natter

The Trump administration plans to continue issuing permits for oil drilling and do other work on “priority conventional energy projects” during the government shutdown but will freeze activities on some renewable energy projects.

The Interior Department, which oversees energy development on federal lands and waters, is furloughing thousands of workers but 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 Wednesday. 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 and a five-year plan for selling leases along the Outer Continental Shelf. Work on renewable energy projects will cease, according to the agency, which has oversight over offshore energy development.

The department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, which plays a key role in permitting new offshore wells, said it planned to keep more than two-thirds of its 560 employees working.

The bureau’s “mission and statutory authorities are imperative to the administration’s priorities,” it said in its shutdown plan. “Critical operations, if disrupted, would cause significant and irreparable damage to the nation’s energy supply, national security, stakeholders, and the public.”

The moves reflect Trump’s broader push to bolster fossil fuels while scaling back federal support for renewables, a strategy that has shaped regulatory rollbacks, tax policy and energy permitting.

While the 1870 Antideficiency Act generally bars agencies from spending money Congress hasn’t approved, they do have some discretion in deciding what’s 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.

Environmentalists nonetheless criticized the Trump administration decision to prioritize fossil fuel over renewables.

“This is just the latest example of the Trump administration prioritizing profits for fossil fuel CEOs and investors at the expense of working people,” said Collin Rees from the environmental group Oil Change International.

(Updates throughout.)

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