Drilling and permits
Moving
Permitting policy flipped on day one. The October pump price did not follow.
Post this to X, with the sourceThe promise
Drill. Approve permits. Drop the electric-vehicle mandates. Export gas. Quit international climate deals that constrain production.
What happened
- Executive Order 14154, January 20, 2025.
- FERC NEPA revision, voted October 13, 2026.
Executive Order 14154, Unleashing American Energy, was signed January 20, 2025. On October 13, 2026, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said it had just revised its environmental-review rules because that order demanded faster permitting, after the Council on Environmental Quality rescinded its own NEPA regulations. FERC’s vote was unanimous. The rule takes effect 45 days after it is published.
A White House proclamation on October 7, 2026 claims, as administration figures: more than 6,000 drilling permits approved; record U.S. oil and gas production and record liquefied-natural-gas exports in 2025, with 2026 on pace to beat them; an end to the freeze on new gas-export terminals; withdrawal from climate agreements; and a Venezuela oil deal the proclamation calls majority control of more than 65 billion barrels. Those production and deal claims are the White House’s. They are not repeated here as an outside audit.
Production policy and the price at the station are not the same variable. See the prices entry. War and refining capacity are sitting on top of whatever domestic output did.
What is holding it up
Congress is not the reason diesel is expensive this month. Lawsuits can still stall an individual project, and a later president can rewrite an executive order. Locking a permitting regime in place so it survives the next election takes a statute. The consumer price is blocked by wars and the fuel market, not by a cloture vote on this order.
Still ahead
- Pump prices. See the prices entry.
- White House production and Venezuela claims are not an independent audit.
Dates
Jan 20, 2025 · Order
Unleashing American Energy
Executive Order 14154. FERC cites it as the reason for the 2026 permitting rewrite.
Oct 7, 2026 · Claim
Energy Dominance Month proclamation
White House account of permits, production, exports, and a Venezuela oil agreement.
Oct 13, 2026 · Agency
FERC finishes the NEPA rewrite
Unanimous vote. Effective 45 days after Federal Register publication.
The direction of federal energy paperwork changed, and the regulator in charge of pipelines says it is acting on that order. That has not made diesel cheap in October 2026.
Updated October 13, 2026.
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