On October 1, 2025, the Trump administration made it official: permits for oil drilling and other so-called "priority conventional energy projects" would keep flowing, even as a government shutdown ground other federal activities to a halt. The move, reported by Bloomberg, means that while thousands of Interior Department employees are furloughed, the gears behind new oil and gas projects, coal leases, and related energy work remain well-oiled and turning. Renewable energy initiatives, on the other hand, have been put on ice—at least for now.
This approach isn’t a surprise to those who’ve followed President Donald Trump’s energy and climate agenda. According to FactCheck.org, Trump and Project 2025—a sweeping conservative blueprint for government—are marching in lockstep on the need to ramp up production of natural gas, oil, and coal. Their shared vision? Strip away government efforts to promote green energy and tackle climate change, while turbocharging fossil fuel development.
Although the United States has already been the world’s leading producer of crude oil and natural gas for several years, the rhetoric from the White House has only grown more urgent. Trump’s campaign mantra—"drill, baby, drill"—has become policy, with the administration moving quickly to declare a national energy emergency earlier this year. According to the Interior Department’s shutdown plan, staffers responsible for handling oil and gas permits are exempt from furloughs, a decision made "in part to address a national energy emergency that President Donald Trump declared earlier this year," as Bloomberg reported.
But what does this mean for the nation’s energy future—and for the planet? The Trump administration’s actions go far beyond his first term’s efforts to withdraw from international climate agreements and roll back environmental regulations. In his second term, Trump has rescinded funding for green energy projects, eliminated climate research and climate-focused programs, and is aggressively seeking to undo the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 endangerment finding—a legal cornerstone that allows the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide emissions from motor vehicles.
Project 2025, which has become a touchstone for the administration’s policy playbook, is clear in its aims. The document calls for an end to former President Joe Biden’s "war on fossil fuels," lambasting what it describes as "hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies" spent on "unreliable renewables." There’s little acknowledgment of the threats posed by climate change in its pages. As David Graham, author of "The Project: How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America," told NPR, "You don’t see a concern for sea levels rising. You don’t see a concern for more frequent extreme weather. You don’t see any discussion of the catastrophic flooding that we’re seeing around the world. You don’t see any discussion of rising global temperatures. Instead, what you see is an argument that the U.S. is not doing enough to drill oil and gas."
The administration’s critics warn that these moves could have lasting consequences. Manish Bapna, president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council, told Inside Climate News, "It is not an overstatement to say that the Trump administration has launched the worst White House assault in history on the environment and public health. If this assault succeeds, it could take a generation or more to repair the damage."
For now, the Bureau of Land Management—which oversees about 245 million acres of public land—continues to process fossil fuel permits, while renewable energy projects are effectively frozen. The message is clear: conventional energy takes precedence, especially during a declared emergency. This prioritization is not just administrative; it’s deeply political, reflecting the administration’s view that fossil fuels are the backbone of American prosperity and security.
Trump’s stance on climate change has been consistent—and controversial. He has repeatedly labeled climate change a "hoax" and dismissed efforts to address it as wasteful. According to FactCheck.org, the administration has gone so far as to attempt rescinding the EPA’s 2009 endangerment finding, a move that would undermine the legal authority to regulate greenhouse gases. Project 2025 echoes this call, urging the EPA to "update the 2009 endangerment finding" and for newly adopted emissions standards to be repealed.
Congress, now firmly under Republican control, has largely supported the administration’s actions, though not without some pushback—particularly when it comes to defunding scientific research. Still, the overall trend is clear: a dramatic shift away from climate-focused policies and toward unbridled fossil fuel expansion.
Supporters of the administration’s approach argue that prioritizing oil, gas, and coal production is essential for economic growth, energy independence, and national security. They claim that rolling back regulations and subsidies for renewables will lower energy costs for Americans and make the country less reliant on foreign energy sources. Project 2025 accuses the previous administration of denying Americans "cheaper and more abundant energy," while wasting money on what it sees as unreliable alternatives.
Opponents, however, warn that this strategy ignores the mounting evidence of climate risks and the urgent need to transition to cleaner energy sources. They point to recent catastrophic flooding, record-breaking heatwaves, and rising sea levels as clear signals that the planet is already feeling the effects of unchecked greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental groups argue that the cost of inaction will be far higher in the long run, both in terms of human health and economic impact.
Meanwhile, the freeze on renewable energy projects during the shutdown has left many in limbo. Developers and advocates worry that critical momentum will be lost, and that the U.S. could fall behind other countries investing heavily in solar, wind, and other clean technologies. The Interior Department’s decision to keep fossil fuel projects moving while halting renewables is seen by critics as a stark illustration of the administration’s priorities.
As the shutdown drags on, the debate over America’s energy future shows no sign of cooling off. The Trump administration’s actions, backed by Project 2025 and a supportive Congress, have set the stage for a high-stakes battle over the direction of U.S. energy policy and the nation’s role in the fight against climate change. Whether this will ultimately lead to the "energy dominance" touted by its supporters—or to environmental and economic fallout feared by its critics—remains to be seen. But for now, the message from Washington is unmistakable: fossil fuels are in, climate action is out, and the consequences will reverberate far beyond the corridors of power.
Amidst the political wrangling and policy shifts, one thing is certain: the choices made today will shape the nation’s landscape, economy, and climate for decades to come.
