Interior Keeps Oil, Coal Permits; Renewables Paused

Interior Department contingency plans for the 2025 government shutdown exempt staff processing oil, gas, coal and other “priority conventional energy” permits — allowing BLM lease work to continue and BOEM to use carryover funds to maintain offshore drilling permits — while pausing approvals for wind, solar and other renewable projects. The approach follows President Trump’s national energy emergency declaration and mirrors choices made during the 2018–19 shutdown to keep drilling permits flowing, in contrast with prior administrations that suspended auctions. Thousands of furloughed federal workers will freeze many federally funded renewable, construction, utility-oversight and environmental programs, could delay flood insurance issuance and EPA actions, and will interrupt routine energy statistics (notably EIA reports), reducing market transparency and increasing near-term price volatility for oil, gas and power. Some Interior and other energy offices can continue limited work using fee revenue or carryover funds, but industry groups and officials warn a prolonged lapse would slow permitting and project execution and risk hollowing out key departments, while congressional gridlock will push back permitting-reform legislation and rulemaking on tax credits and clean-energy trade cases.