Promises Made, Promises Kept

Gas Prices Are Falling.

• Gas prices have now fallen for the seventh straight week – now their lowest in almost 5 years and trending lower.
  • According to AAA, average gas prices have dipped below $3 per gallon in 42 states.
  • Americans are expected to spend $11 billion less for gas in 2026.
    • That would translate to an average household spending of $2,083 on gas for the year, down from $2,716 in 2022.
  • So far in President Trump’s second term, Americans are on track to spend the lowest amount of their disposable income on gas in the last two decades amid the Trump Administration’s pursuit of American Energy Dominance.
• As President Trump’s Energy Dominance vision continues to come to fruition, energy prices will fall further — igniting other price declines.
  • Households heated by propane or heating oil will pay less to heat their homes this winter than last winter.
  • Since President Trump took office, prices for propane, kerosene, and firewood are down -6.8% and prices for fuel oil and other fuels are down -3.3%.
  • Cumulatively, energy costs (including gasoline, electricity, etc.) were $5,223 per American household under the 4 years of the Biden administration.
  • Transit prices are also falling, including airline fares (9.3%) and public transportation (6.9%).  

Secretary Burgum Has Advanced Trump's Energy Dominance Agenda

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• Since swearing in to the Department of the Interior, Secretary Burgum has implemented President Trump’s agenda to secure American Energy Dominance and capitalize on America’s Balance Sheet.  

• On Coal;

  • Under President Trump in 2025, the Department of the Interior held 4 coal lease sales, generating $47 million and offering 82.4 million tons of coal for development.
    • The BLM administers coal leasing across 570 million acres of public land which currently includes 273 federal coal leases encompassing 404,847 acres in 11 states.
  • On September 29, the bureau announced the opening of 13.1 million more acres of federal land for coal leasing, tripling benchmarks set by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and delivering on President Trump’s directive to restore American Energy Dominance. 

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• On Oil & Gas;

  • In the first year of President Trump’s second term, oil and gas lease sales from the Bureau of Land Management brought in $356.6 million, more revenue than in all four years of the Biden administration combined.
    • Since Jan. 20, 2025, the BLM held 22 lease sales and generated over $187 million by leasing 206 parcels totaling 165,681 acres across 10 states (Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming).
    • The BLM also approved 6,106 Applications for Permits to Drill (APDs), more Applications for Permits to Drill since January 20 than in any other fiscal year over the past 15 years.
      • Under President Trump, Secretary Burgum’s Department of Interior has approved 63.7 percent more Federal and Indian drilling permits compared to his predecessor over the same period at this point in their presidency.
  • On April 24, the Department of the Interior introduced a new policy to boost offshore oil output in the Gulf of America.
    • This change, the result of extensive technical consultation with offshore industry leaders, could increase production output by roughly 10%, which would translate into over 100,000 barrels per day production increase over the next ten years.
    • Over 30 years, it provides 61% more oil recovery, and over 50 years, it yields 21% more.
  • On December 10, the Department of the Interior successfully conducted the first mandatory offshore oil and gas lease sale required under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
    • The sale generated $300,425,222 in high bids for 181 blocks across 80 million acres in federal waters of the Gulf of America. Thirty companies submitted 219 bids totaling $371,881,093.
  • In 2025, the BLM also took steps to unleash Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential and expand oil and gas development in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve; ended the requirement to prepare environmental impact statements for approximately 3,224 oil and gas leases across 3.5 million acres in seven Western states; streamlined the oil and gas leasing process on public lands; and updated rules for commingling, or combining oil or gas from multiple sources for more efficient measurement and processing, to align with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.  

• On Wind & Solar;

  • Under President Trump, the Department of Interior has removed artificial energy advantages and levelled the playing field for dispatchable, cost-effective and secure energy sources, such as clean coal and domestic natural gas.
    • American Energy Dominance is driven by U.S.-based production of reliable baseload energy, not regulatory favoritism towards unreliable energy projects that are solely dependent on taxpayer subsidies and foreign-sourced equipment.
    • On July 17, Secretary Burgum signed a directive ending preferential treatment for unreliable, subsidy-heavy wind and solar projects.
  • Under the new Secretary Order, all wind and solar proposals on federal land now face elevated review by the Secretary’s office and will no longer receive automatic approvals.
    • Longstanding fee discounts and subsidies for wind and solar rights-of-way and capacity have been wiped out by President Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts.
    • Interior’s moves have backed dependable energy sources like natural gas and clean coal, boosting grid reliability and national security.  

• On Delivering Peace through Energy Security;

  • President Trump’s vision to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe and our allies around the world is part of our broader push for U.S. “Energy Dominance.”
    • At Interior we have taken strides to reverse the Biden administration’s pause on new LNG export infrastructure permits and widen our access to reliable and affordable sources of energy.
  • LNG has become an integral tool in expanding America’s geopolitical influence, and will deter our allies from relying on foreign adversaries for their production
    • In 2026, the Trump administration is expecting to export four billion more cubic feet of natural gas per day than the last year of the Biden administration.
    • The four billion more cubic feet of natural gas per day will be a 33 percent increase compared to 2024.  

• On Deregulation;

  • On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed the Unleashing American Energy executive order to establish Energy Dominance through Efficient Permitting.
    • The order called for agencies like the Department of Interior to expedite and simplify the permitting process and prioritize efficiency and certainty over any other objectives.
  • On April 23, 2025, in coordination with the White House, the Department of the Interior implemented emergency permitting procedures to accelerate the development of domestic energy resources and critical minerals.
    • The new permitting procedures reduced a multi-year process down to just 28 days at most.
  • On June 30, 2025, in coordination with the White House, the Department of the Interior announced reforms to join the historic effort to fix America’s broken permitting system.
    • These reforms are designed to modernize the federal environmental review process and prevent unnecessary regulations from being weaponized to delay American innovation and expansion.
  • DOI’s National Environmental Policy Acy reforms will drastically reduce burdensome and ideologically motivated regulations that have impeded the development of American resources, limited the generation of reliable and affordable electricity, reduced job creation, and inflicted high energy costs upon our citizens.

• On Critical Minerals;

  • On November 14, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Interior, through the U.S. Geological Survey, released the Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals and a report that outlines a new model for assessing how potential supply chain disruptions could affect the U.S. economy.
    • The 2025 List marks the third list since the effort began under a 2017 Executive Order (EO 13817) by President Trump directing federal agencies to strengthen mineral security.
    • The Energy Act of 2020 signed by President Trump requires the list to be reviewed at least every three years to reflect new data and changing supply conditions.
    • Accordingly, the list is not static; it is intended to be dynamic and will be updated at least every two years to reflect evolving circumstances.

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• On Unleashing Alaska’s Energy Potential;

  • Under this administration, the Department of Interior has prioritized rescinding the last administration’s flawed energy policies and is working tirelessly to unleash Alaska’s untapped natural resources.
    • One of Secretary Burgum’s first actions at the Department of Interior was to implement a Secretarial Order to unleash Alaska's extraordinary resource potential.
      • The order was designed to raise Americans prosperity and boost our Nation's economic and national security for generations to come by, among other policies:
        • Reopening 82% of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska available to leasing and expanding energy development opportunities in the approximately 23-million-acre reserve;
        • Reinstating a program that makes the entire 1.56-million-acre Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge available for oil and gas leasing;
          • The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the Coastal Plain could hold up to 11.8 billion barrels of oil.
        • Expediting the permitting and leasing of energy and natural resource projects in Alaska (including specifically for the rights of way and easement for roads that enable this development to occur;
        • Revoking the withdrawals along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Corridor and Dalton Highway north of the Yukon River in order to convey those lands to State of Alaska.
          • This action paves the way forward for the proposed Ambler Road and the Alaska Liquified Natural Gas Pipeline project, two projects that stand to increase job opportunities and encourage Alaska’s economic growth
        • The pipeline project seeks to funnel about 3.3 billion cubic feet of gas a day (Bcf/d) from Prudhoe Bay above the North Slope to Nikiski on the Kenai Peninsula, about 80 miles south of Anchorage; and
          • Prioritizing the development of Alaska's liquified natural gas (LNG) potential, including the sale and transportation of Alaskan LNG to other regions of the United States and allied nations within the Pacific region.
  • Alaska's natural resources are estimated to be significant, with the state's mineral industry reported to be worth $3.2 billion in 2020, a 5 percent increase from 2019.
    • According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska’s North Slope contains an estimated 53.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas hydrate resources. 

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• On Making D.C. Safe and Beautiful;

  • President Trump’s joint operation to make D.C. Safe and Beautiful has resulted in over 8,700 criminal arrests, taking violent criminals off the streets of our nation’s capital.
    • So far, fifty-one known gang members have been arrested.
    • 885 illegal firearms have been removed from the city’s streets.   
    • 16 missing children have been recovered.
    • Twenty-Four suspected murderers have been arrested for crimes previously committed.
    • Thirty-One arrests have been made over sexual related offenses in the District.
  • Over 80 homeless camps have been removed from federal lands by U.S. Park Police.
  • On January 9, 2026, the Department of the Interior announced a 3.8 percent pay increase for all Department law enforcement officers.
    • The pay increase represents another example of the Trump administration’s commitment to supporting the men and women whose service is critical to the safety of our communities and the protection of America’s public lands and resources.

• Fighting Wildland Fires;

  • On January 12, 2026, the Department of the Interior announced next steps to establish the U.S. Wildland Fire Service.
    • Interior appointed a new leader to oversee the implementation of the new service with the vision of unifying the wildland fire management programs across the Department’s bureaus and offices.
    • Establishing a unified U.S. Wildland Fire Service will streamline decision-making, improve operational efficiency and enhance the Department’s ability to respond quickly and effectively to wildfire threats.
    • The vision behind a new service is to better protect lives, communities, critical infrastructure and public and tribal lands through a more integrated wildland fire management approach.
  • On March 15, 2025, the Department of the Interior announced permanent pay increases for federal and tribal wildland firefighters across the United States.
    • Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Interior will continue to take decisive action to support the brave men and women who put their lives on the line to protect American communities from devastating wildfires.