President Donald Trump is invoking the Defense Production Act to accelerate domestic production of oil products, natural gas, and coal, as well as the deployment of large-scale energy and grid-related infrastructure.
The president signed five presidential determinations invoking the 1950 law on Monday afternoon, as the administration faces increasing pressure from rising oil and gas prices brought about by the war in Iran.
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White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said on social media that the orders will allow the Energy Department to use funding secured in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to strengthen the national power grid and ramp up production of domestic energy resources.
The determinations specifically authorize federal purchases or financial support to accelerate the development of the fossil fuel and grid infrastructure, in an effort to get past time-consuming regulatory delays, infrastructure bottlenecks, and supply chain restrictions.
The orders declare that this energy infrastructure is “essential to the national defense,” including but not limited to coal supply chains, domestic petroleum production and refining, natural gas and liquefied natural gas capacity, gas export facilities, pipelines, transformers, and transmission lines.
One memo even declares that all the processes of developing, manufacturing, and deploying large-scale energy infrastructure, such as permitting and site acquisitions, are critical to national defense.
This is not the first time the president has utilized the Cold War-era law to advance his energy agenda. In March 2025, Trump issued a similar order invoking the Defense Production Act to boost domestic production of critical minerals.
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Trump campaigned on increasing domestic production of fossil fuels, and the move aligns with the administration’s efforts to tackle surging oil and gas prices.
Since the war in Iran began nearly two months ago, the administration has taken several creative steps to lower prices, including waiving the Jones Act, releasing stocks from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and issuing an emergency waiver for summer fuel blends.
