DEPA “Year One” Federal Wins and Why CIPA Has a Seat at the Table

DEPA has circulated an “achievement record” summarizing what it characterizes as the first year of Trump administration actions to expand domestic oil and natural gas production and reduce regulatory drag across the federal government. The through-line is consistent: faster permitting, more leasing, less punitive methane policy, and a broader posture of federal “energy primacy” over state-level constraints that attempt to function as national energy policy.

For CIPA members, the significance is not abstract. CIPA CEO Rock Zierman serves as Vice-President and member of DEPA’s Board of Directors, alongside Harold Hamm and other national industry leaders. That means California’s independent producers are not simply reacting to Washington; CIPA has a direct line into a coalition that is actively shaping the policy agenda and helping drive outcomes that materially affect producers’ economics, infrastructure viability, and long-term investment confidence. In politics, proximity is power, and DEPA is operating close enough to smell the ink drying on federal actions.

What DEPA highlights as the “big moves”

DEPA’s record points to three early executive orders on January 20, 2025, “Unleashing American Energy,” “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential,” and “Declaring a National Energy Emergency,” as the administration’s opening salvo, directing agencies to remove obstacles, accelerate approvals, and prioritize domestic resources.

DEPA also highlights a reported increase in federal drilling permits, expanded onshore lease sales through BLM (including 22 lease sales in 2025 and more than 165,000 acres leased), and a revived offshore posture, especially the December 2025 Gulf of America lease sale and a proposed 2026–2031 offshore leasing program with up to 34 sales.

Regulatory and compliance relief with real-dollar consequences

DEPA’s summary emphasizes actions intended to soften or delay unnecessary methane-related compliance costs (including changes tied to the EPA methane framework and the Waste Emissions Charge implementation rule), roll back or reconsider major EPA and Interior-era policies, and reduce friction for pipelines and midstream through permitting reforms and safety-rule revisions.

It also cites a slate of tax and fiscal changes in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” framework (bonus depreciation, 199A, R&D expensing, royalty and leasing changes, and adjustments touching 45Q/EOR). In plain English, the federal government is attempting to lower the cost of capital and shorten the time-to-project for oil and gas.

Why this matters to California producers, specifically

California independents operate under the tightest state and local constraints in the nation, so federal policy can be the difference between “still viable” and “managed decline by paperwork.”

DEPA’s record flags a federal stance against “state overreach,” including a posture of challenging state climate penalties and litigation strategies aimed at the industry. For California, that framing matters. It signals a federal willingness to contest policies that attempt to export Sacramento’s rulebook to the rest of the country, or conversely, to impose California-style limits via national channels.

Bottom line for CIPA members

DEPA’s “achievement record” is not just a scorecard; it is a roadmap of where federal power is being applied and how quickly agencies are being pushed to move. With Rock Zierman serving on DEPA’s board, CIPA is positioned to help ensure California’s realities, supply reliability, infrastructure constraints, refining dependence, and the economic role of in-state production, are represented where strategy is being set. When the federal government is re-writing the rules of the road, it is better to have a hand on the wheel than to read about the detour after the barricades go up.