“Drill, baby, drill” was the prime plank in Donald Trump’s platform when he ran for president.
It’s back, as oil and gas permitting has increased sharply in Trump’s second term, with federal drilling approvals and lease sales on public lands and offshore areas accelerating over the last year and continuing to surge in recent months.
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management approved 5,742 permits to drill between Jan. 20, 2025 — the first day of President Donald Trump’s second term — and Jan. 6 of this year, according to data from the agency.That dwarfs the 3,696 approvals issued over the comparable period in 2024-2025 under former President Joe Biden. BLM also held 22 lease sales in 2025, leasing some 328,000 new acres of public land across 10 states for oil and gas development.“As promised, the Trump Administration has cut burdensome, unnecessary red tape and approved permits at record speed to unleash American energy,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement Friday. “President Trump’s energy dominance agenda is restoring the ability for oil and gas companies to ‘DRILL, BABY, DRILL’ which why gas prices have hit a new multi-year low.”
The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) webpage indicates Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has approved roughly 60% more federal and Indian drilling permits than the previous administration, highlighting rapid Applications for Permit to Drill processing as part of “energy dominance.”
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 presidencies. The BLM approved 6,027 new oil and gas permits and has approved more Applications for Permits to Drill than in any other year over the past 15 years.President Biden held no oil and gas lease sales during 2021, his first year in office. Under President Trump, the BLM held 22 lease sales within 2025. Currently, there are more than 21.3 million acres of BLM-managed lands under lease for oil and gas development and production, Between Jan. 20 – Dec. 31, 2025, the bureau held 22 lease sales and generated over $356.6 million (more revenue than in all four years of the Biden administration combined!) by leasing 369 parcels totaling 328,000 acres across 10 states (Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming).
The Trump Team certainly spent 2025 surging American energy production, which was helped along when the BLM scrapped the requirement to prepare environmental impact statements for about 3,224 oil and gas leases covering 3.5 million acres in seven Western states. At the same time, the agency also streamlined the leasing process on public lands and updated its commingling rules to make it easier to measure and process oil and gas from multiple sources in
In October, the agency issued a new record of decision reopening 1.56 million acres of the Alaska Coastal Plain to oil and gas leasing, reversing the Biden administration’s 2024 plan that had limited development to the statutory minimum. Legal Insurrection readers will recall that the BLM rescinded the Biden-era 2024 rule for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska and approved an updated Integrated Activity Plan that reopened nearly 82% of the 23‑million‑acre reserve to oil and gas leasing.
This approach is contributing to the drop in fuel prices. Gasoline prices have fallen to their lowest level in years…in most parts of the country.
The new year begins with the lowest national average in years at $2.81. The last time the national average for a gallon of regular gas was this low was back in March of 2021. Crude oil prices remain relatively unchanged from the end of 2025 and unaffected amid questions about Venezuela’s impact on the oil market. Currently, the global oil supply is strong, as OPEC+, the coalition of oil-exporting countries, says it’s not planning any production hikes in the first quarter of 2026 due to lower demand.
California drivers, on the other hand, are paying $3.77 per gallon for their fuel and are bracing themselves for even higher prices as refineries begin to close.
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