On April 20, 2026, Donald Trump signed five presidential determinations under Section 303 of the Defense Production Act — a Korean War–era emergency law designed to mobilize industrial production during existential national crises — and used them to declare coal, petroleum, natural gas, LNG, and “large-scale energy infrastructure” as essential to United States national defense. The determinations authorize the Department of Energy to deploy federal funding — including loans, loan guarantees, purchase commitments, and direct subsidies — to prop up fossil fuel industries that Trump’s own war made unprofitable to operate normally.
Read that sequence again. Trump started a war. The war created an energy crisis. He declared a national energy emergency. He invoked wartime powers designed for World War II and Korea. And he’s using them to shovel money to coal plants, refineries, and pipeline operators. The man who created the fire is now charging the government to sell you the extinguisher.
Title III of the Defense Production Act authorizes the President to provide financial incentives — purchases, purchase commitments, loans, and loan guarantees — to create, maintain, or expand domestic industrial capacity deemed “essential to national defense.” It requires a Presidential Determination that the need cannot be met under existing market conditions. Originally used for weapons manufacturing and strategic materials during wartime, Trump is now using it for coal-fired power plants, oil refineries, gas pipelines, and LNG export terminals.
The Five Determinations
All five were signed on April 20 and posted to the White House website. Each one follows the same template: cite Executive Order 14156 (the “National Energy Emergency” Trump declared on Inauguration Day 2025), find that the industry “cannot be met in full under existing market conditions,” and authorize the Secretary of Energy to use DPA Title III tools.
1. Large-Scale Energy and Energy-Related Infrastructure — authorizes funding for facilities that manufacture gas turbines, transformers, and grid equipment. These are the electrical components subject to global shortages — shortages made worse by Trump’s tariffs and his war.
2. Natural Gas Transmission, Processing, Storage, and LNG Capacity — declares pipelines, processing plants, storage facilities, and LNG export terminals as essential to national defense. The memo states that “hostile foreign actors have weaponized America’s reliance on foreign energy.” Those hostile actors are Iran — the country Trump attacked first.
3. Coal Supply Chains and Baseload Power Generation Capacity — subsidizes coal. In 2026. Using emergency wartime powers. Because apparently coal is essential to national defense now.
4. Domestic Petroleum Production, Refining, and Logistics Capacity — covers oil drilling, refineries, and fuel transportation. Eligible projects include the very type of offshore operations that Trump already forced back online over the objections of California regulators and a federal court.
5. Jet Fighter Training Operations (Idaho, Oregon, Nevada) — the only one that plausibly relates to actual military readiness.
The Sable Offshore Preview
This isn’t the first time Trump has weaponized the DPA for fossil fuels. On March 13, the Department of Energy used the Defense Production Act to order Sable Offshore Corporation — a Houston-based offshore oil operation — to immediately resume pumping through a California pipeline that had been shut down after a 2015 oil spill. State regulators had kept the pipeline offline because it hadn’t met safety requirements. The DPA order overrode them.
The Roosevelt Institute called it what it was: “a handout to a longtime campaign donor in an attempt to lessen the blow of an energy shock his administration created by attacking Iran.”
On April 17, a Santa Barbara Superior Court judge ruled that the DPA order does not cancel out previous court rulings prohibiting the pipeline restart. Governor Newsom’s office put out the numbers: one month after Energy Secretary Chris Wright promised the forced restart would lower gas prices nationwide, gas prices were over $1 more per gallon in red states and blue states alike. The pipeline produced a negligible amount relative to global supply. The DPA order was pure theater — a gift to a donor dressed up as an emergency measure.
“A California court just confirmed what we have said all along: Trump and his Big Oil donors are not above the law. One month into Trump’s haphazard Iran war, Americans are getting zero cents of relief at the pump.” — Governor Gavin Newsom, April 17, 2026
The Self-Dealing Loop
Follow the chain:
On January 20, 2025, Trump declared a “National Energy Emergency” via Executive Order 14156, claiming America’s energy supply was inadequate and under threat from “hostile foreign actors.” At the time, the United States was the world’s largest oil producer. There was no emergency.
On February 28, 2026, Trump and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran without congressional authorization. Iran retaliated by closing the Strait of Hormuz — through which 20% of the world’s oil supply flows. That created an actual energy emergency.
Now Trump is using the emergency he manufactured to invoke the very powers he pre-positioned on Day One. The “National Energy Emergency” declaration from January 2025 is the legal foundation for the DPA determinations in April 2026. He declared an emergency when there wasn’t one, started a war that created one, and now he’s using both to funnel public money to fossil fuel companies.
This is not energy policy. This is a self-dealing feedback loop executed with the full machinery of the federal government.
Who Benefits
The Straits Times reported that projects eligible for DPA support include coal-fired power plants, refineries, and facilities manufacturing gas turbines and transformers. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers called it fulfilling Trump’s promise to “fully unleash American energy dominance.”
Energy dominance. For coal. In 2026. While the war he started has already cost Americans tens of billions in higher energy prices, while Gulf allies are begging for dollar lifelines, while jet fuel has doubled and airlines are cutting routes.
The DPA funding mechanism works like this: once the presidential determination is signed, the Energy Department can use appropriated funds — including money from the 2025 tax-and-spending bill — to make purchases, offer loans, issue loan guarantees, and enter purchase commitments with private companies. The companies get a guaranteed buyer (the federal government) or subsidized financing. The taxpayer gets the bill. The fossil fuel industry gets the profits.
The Cost of the War That Justified This
The Pentagon told Congress the first six days of the Iran war cost $11.3 billion. CSIS estimated $16.5 billion by Day 12. Lawmakers expect a supplemental spending request of at least $50 billion. Gas prices are up over $1 per gallon nationally. Jet fuel has nearly doubled. The IMF has warned of a global recession scenario if the energy disruption continues.
And the administration’s solution to the energy crisis created by its own war is to use Korean War–era emergency powers to subsidize coal mines and oil refineries. Not to end the war. Not to negotiate in good faith. Not to reopen the strait. To subsidize the industries that profit from high energy prices.
If you wanted to design a system where the president could start a war, use the resulting crisis to declare an emergency, and then funnel emergency funds to his donors, you would design exactly this system. Trump didn’t break the system. He used it as intended — for himself.
Sources
- White House: Presidential Determination on Large-Scale Energy and Energy-Related Infrastructure. DPA Section 303. Signed April 20, 2026. Authorizes DOE to use Title III tools for grid infrastructure, turbines, and transformers.
- White House: Presidential Determination on Natural Gas, LNG Capacity. DPA Section 303. April 20, 2026. Declares natural gas pipelines, processing, storage, and LNG export terminals essential to national defense.
- The Straits Times: “Trump invokes wartime powers to fund new energy projects.” Five presidential determinations covering coal, petroleum, natural gas, LNG, and grid infrastructure. Projects include coal-fired plants and refineries. April 21, 2026.
- Roosevelt Institute: “Trump Wields the Defense Production Act to Promote Fossil Fuels.” Sable Offshore DPA order called “a handout to a longtime campaign donor.” Energy shock created by Iran war. March 24, 2026.
- Office of Governor Gavin Newsom: Santa Barbara court ruled DPA order does not override prior court injunctions. Gas prices up $1/gallon one month after forced pipeline restart. “Zero cents of relief.” April 17, 2026.
- CSIS: Iran war cost estimate: $11.3 billion at Day 6, $16.5 billion at Day 12. Congress expects $50B+ supplemental request. March 13, 2026.