Policy Memo
Topline
Lawmakers should repeal burdensome and unnecessary regulations and mandates that raise oil costs, and, in turn, the price of goods and services across the economy.
Affordability 101 · Chapter 2: Abundant Energy and Natural Resources
Plymouth Institute for Free Enterprise
Lawmakers should repeal burdensome and unnecessary regulations and mandates that raise oil costs, and, in turn, the price of goods and services across the economy.
Gasoline prices can vary by about $2 per gallon across U.S. states, showing how state energy policies affect prices. Clean or low-carbon fuel standards are important drivers of high fuel costs in certain states. These standards require transportation fuels to become gradually less carbon intensive and make gasoline more expensive.
Federal policies add further costs. The renewable fuel standard requires a minimum amount of renewable fuel in transportation fuels, burdening refiners and importers of gasoline and diesel and adding an estimated 26 to 35 cents per gallon.
Federal permitting delays also slow oil and gas development. In 2025, the Bureau of Land Management drilling permits took about 283 days, while states approved comparable permits in weeks or even days; Texas, for example, approved drilling permits in two to four days.
Related Legislation: Bureau of Land Management Mineral Spacing Act (H.R. 1555); Eliminating the RFS and Its Destructive Outcomes Act (H.R. 2460); License to Drill Act (S. 5039, H.R. 7831).
Americans shouldn’t be forced to pay inflated prices for gas and other goods caused by government fuel mandates and permitting delays.
This memo is part of Affordability 101, Advancing American Freedom’s playbook of 101 policy solutions to make life more affordable.