DOE launches study aimed at boosting oil and gas
Christa Marshall, E & E News, September 24, 2025
Energy Secretary Chris Wright is ordering a new study to bolster oil and gas development, a move that could guide future administration actions on pipelines, permitting and regulations.
In a letter posted to the DOE site Monday, Wright directed the National Petroleum Council, a federal advisory committee, to deliver the “Future Energy Systems” study for presentation at the council’s meeting in December. DOE-sanctioned studies can be significant for signaling where the administration is headed on policy and what it will be pushing for with Congress and industry.
The analysis should “recognize and leverage the vast potential of domestic oil and natural gas resources and industry expertise to advance administration goals,” Wright wrote to Alan Armstrong, chair of the petroleum council.
The recommendations are intended to inform the National Energy Dominance Council, a panel in the White House created by President Donald Trump and led by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to coordinate and set energy policy.
Wright said the study should initially focus on permitting and “gas-electric coordination” to help ensure that infrastructure can meet growing electricity demand.
Funding for a UAF critical minerals project has been frozen since February
Shelby Herbert, KUAC, September 24, 2025
A University of Alaska Fairbanks project to map out the Pacific Northwest’s critical mineral potential won an approximately $7.5M federal grant this winter. But researchers haven’t received a single cent of that funding.
The funds, awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy during the Biden Administration, were frozen and put under review in February. Brent Sheets, who oversees the project at UAF’s Institute of Northern Engineering, said the pause came as a surprise, considering President Trump’s push to ramp up the domestic production of critical minerals, which are prized for their importance in manufacturing and national security and are often in limited supply.
“The outcome of our project will be a regional assessment supporting the Department of Energy’s efforts to develop a nationwide critical minerals and materials prospectus,” he said.
The project, based out of UAF, would have distributed those funds across Alaska, Washington and Oregon. Its first objective would have been to assess, identify and prioritize sites in the region for critical mineral potential. It would also look at each site’s strategic importance along with how easy and how cost-effective it would be to mine the minerals
