Interior officials issuing drilling permits, EIA considered priorities during government shutdown

The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the US Bureau of Energy Management (BOEM) intend to treat issuance of oil and gas drilling permits and planning offshore oil and gas lease plans as essential services, saving employees working on those tasks from near-term layoffs during the government shutdown.

In required shutdown contingency plans, most government agencies, including Interior—which houses both BOEM and BLM—expect to weather a short-term shutdown of 1-5 days with minimal effects. The plans show that a longer shutdown would impact more agency functions.

BLM and BOEM, which charge permitting and application fees, are among several key energy-related agencies with revenue streams separate from Congressionally appropriated funds. This insulates them somewhat from the shutdown. 

Employees would continue to work until money from those fees, together with unspent appropriated funds from prior years, is exhausted.

Interior and other agencies did not respond to requests for comment on how long the “carryover” funds and fees would last. Interior did not say whether employees working on permitting and lease sales would work without pay once all available funds are drained.

Meanwhile, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the government’s oil and gas statistical arm, remains open. Most of DOE’s funding is multi-year or no-year, it explained in its contingency plan. Federal employees in offices with funding for salaries, including EIA, would continue to report for work as scheduled.

“Until further notice, the EIA.gov website will continue to be updated, and publications will continue to be released according to established schedules,” EIA said in a website notice. It added that it will collect energy data from survey respondents as scheduled and was able to operate for an unspecified period during the lapse in appropriation.

EIA issues several closely watched market reports, including the Weekly Petroleum Status Report, which was released Oct. 1, as scheduled, despite the shutdown.

EIA is also one of several DOE offices that would maintain “a small staff” once all funds are exhausted, according to the DOE contingency plan. It is listed in the plan as among the offices that “perform functions related to the safety of human life or the protection of property, or would remain working as necessary to discharge the president’s constitutional duties and powers.”  

BLM, BOEM

BLM anticipates furloughing about 4,000 of its current 9,250 employees, according to its shutdown contingency plans.

It will focus its work on permitting activities such as oil and gas, transmission and related rights of way and inspections and enforcement for oil and gas operations, the plan said. 

BOEM, meanwhile, would furlough about 339 of its 474 workers, leaving about 105 employees to work on the administration’s priority issues, according to its plan.

“BOEM will have employees available, funded through carryover, to work on priority conventional energy projects, such as the preparation for the Gulf of America Lease Sale 262 included within the 2024-2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, offshore oil and gas lease sales associated with the Public Law 119-21, and the next National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program (National OCS Program).”

It would also retain employees preparing anticipated calendar year 2026 offshore critical mineral lease sales and oil and gas development plans. “The performance of the above functions will be on an as-needed basis, only to perform work related to time-sensitive projects,” according to the plan.

FERC

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), an independent agency that operates within DOE, also collects filing and other fees from industry. It said it anticipates no disruption to operations if the shutdown lasts fewer than 5 days and will use unappropriated funds until exhausted.

Once all funds are spent, FERC will furlough all but about 60 full-time staff and 18 contractors out of its workforce of about 1,500 employees, its contingency plan states.

At that time, FERC would stop accepting public filings and postpose all deadlines and due dates not related to “excepted activities,” which include inspection of LNG and hydroelectric projects, monitoring threats to interstate gas pipelines, LNG plants and the electric grid, and market monitoring.

FERC’s chairman and commissioners would continue to work during any lapses in appropriations because they are presidentially appointed and Senate confirmed, the plan notes. “Additionally, the activities associated with conveying formal action of the commission will need to continue as provided by the commission’s Secretary,” the plan states.

EPA

EPA’s contingency plans call for maintaining 1,754 employees of its 13,432-person workforce during the shutdown to work on activities related to emergency and disaster assistance. It would furlough the remaining 13,432 employees, halting most enforcement inspections and issuance of new permits.

Pipeline regulators

The interstate gas pipeline industry’s main regulators, PHMSA and FERC, will remain largely operational as their budgets are paid with user fees, an industry source said.

Still, “anything that could impact the speed at which project applications are reviewed would be of concern to the industry,” the source added.

Two major legislative priorities for the industry—pipeline safety reauthorization and permitting reform—might also slow due to the shutdown, the source said.