Presidential Determination Pursuant to Section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as Amended, on Natural Gas Transmission, Processing, Storage, and Liquefied Natural Gas Capacity

Key Points

• Trump is invoking Section 303 of the Defense Production Act to classify natural gas and LNG infrastructure as essential to national defense. This unlocks federal financial support, purchase commitments, and other tools to fast-track pipelines, processing plants, storage facilities, and export terminals.
• The determination finds that private industry alone cannot build this infrastructure fast enough because of financing problems, long construction timelines, permitting delays, and infrastructure bottlenecks. The government will step in to fill that gap.
• The order waives key procedural requirements of Section 303 to speed things up, letting the Department of Energy move forward with purchases, commitments, and financial instruments without the usual checks that would normally apply.
• This action ties back to the national energy emergency declared on January 20, 2025, which argued that hostile foreign powers have weaponized energy markets. The goal is to grow U.S. capacity to export natural gas to allies so they are less dependent on adversaries for energy.