President Issues Defense Production Act Determinations Targeting U.S. Energy Sector

Overview of the Determinations: Five Industrial Resources and Materials Targeted
On April 20, 2026, President Trump issued five Presidential Determinations pursuant to Section 303 of the DPA. Section 303 authorizes the President (or a delegated agency) to provide various incentives to expand domestic production of materials and technologies deemed essential for national defense.

To invoke Section 303 authorities, the President must determine, among other factors: (1) the relevant industrial resource, material or critical technology is essential to the national defense, and (2) domestic industry cannot reasonably meet demand in a timely manner without government support.

The Presidential Determinations cover five categories:

• Grid infrastructure and its associated upstream supply chains, including transformers, transmission lines and conductors, substations, high-voltage circuit breakers, power control electronics, protective relay systems, capacitor banks, electrical core steel, and related raw materials and manufacturing tools (Presidential Determination Pursuant to Section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as Amended, on Grid Infrastructure, Equipment, and Supply Chain Capacity);
• Large-scale energy and energy-related infrastructure, including engineering, site acquisition and preparation, permitting, early-stage risk mitigation financing instruments, domestic manufacturing capacity and enabling infrastructure (Presidential Determination Pursuant to Section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as Amended, on Development, Manufacturing, and Deployment of Large-Scale Energy and Energy Related Infrastructure);
• Domestic petroleum production, refining and logistics capacity, including exploration and production, gathering and transmission pipelines, storage and marine terminals (Presidential Determination Pursuant to Section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as Amended, on Domestic Petroleum Production, Refining, and Logistics Capacity);
• Coal supply chains and baseload power generation capacity, including coal mining, rail and barge logistics, export and domestic terminals, generating unit availability and life-extension work, on-site stockpiles and associated reliability updates (Presidential Determination Pursuant to Section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as Amended, on Coal Supply Chains and Baseload Power Generation Capacity); and
• Natural gas and LNG capacity, including gathering and transmission pipelines, compression, processing plants, underground storage, LNG liquefaction, storage and marine load, export facilities and critical distribution infrastructure (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).

What Can DOE Do with This Authority?
In general, Section 303 provides broad authority to support domestic industrial capacity, including through:

• direct purchases or purchase commitments;
• support for exploration, development and production of critical materials; and
• financial assistance to expand production capabilities.

In practice, these authorities may be implemented through grants, loans, loan guarantees, equity investments or offtake agreements.

DPA Title III Funding
Title III activities are funded through the DPA Fund, which is available until expended. From FY2020 through FY2025, Congress provided at least $4.4 billion to the DPA Fund for Title III purposes. Public Law No. 119-21 (also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”) appropriated $1 billion to carry out the DPA.

What to Look Out For
As a next step, DOE will need to implement the determinations through program guidance and funding mechanisms. Companies should:

• assess whether existing or planned projects align with identified sectors;
• monitor DOE announcements, including Federal Register notices, which would trigger timelines for formal implementation and/or opportunities for public comment, as well as funding notices; and
• track potential congressional appropriations that could expand available funding or target specific technologies.

Early engagement may position companies to access funding or participate in DOE-supported initiatives.

There are likely to be more developments as DOE works on implementation.