‘Move Fast and Break Things’ is Making an Administrative Mess

Whiplash tariffs. Sanctions and threats of sanctions. Trade war with long-time allies that put trillions of dollars’ worth of investment at risk. Massive depletion of the federal energy workforce.

The sun has yet to set on the 100th day of President Donald Trump’s second term, but much has already changed.

In this issue of Oil and Gas Investor, we report from CERAWeek by S&P Global: “NatGas Dominance Vs. Permitting, Tariffs, Layoffs.” Interim Editorial Director Darren Barbee writes that executives at BP, Sempra Infrastructure and API shared concerns that U.S. natural gas prowess could be thwarted by snagged permitting, prohibitive steel tariffs and layoffs of federal workers needed to approve projects.

The lumbering pace of federal permitting is not new. NextDecade’s $18.4 billion Rio Grande LNG project did not start construction until 2023, eight years after the permitting process began.

That pace is unlikely to change if the Trump-backed Elon Musk project—the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—manages to circumvent court orders to reinstate thousands of workers tied to energy agencies fired in recent weeks.

NextDecade CEO Matt Schatzman said during a CERAWeek panel that he supports the administration’s focus on permit reform.

“That’s not something you can do by executive order,” he said. “That’s going to take some statute changes, as well, in Congress.”

Absent the implementation of the president’s apparent favored method of governing, it’s difficult to see how reform can be accomplished quickly. And, in the absence of seasoned federal workers to implement strategy, the process appears to already be prolonged.

Meanwhile, Musk is gleefully leading a cadre of 20-something bros through the halls of federal agencies, moving fast and breaking things.

Thousands of federal workers—many of them career public servants employed in agencies including the Bureau of Land Management, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy—have lost their jobs to Musk’s machete. These new entrants to the ranks of the U.S. unemployed include folks who would handle federal oil and gas permitting.

Meanwhile, Reuters has reported that the permitting process has slowed in New Mexico and Alaska.

“We can’t realize our potential for responsible energy and mineral development if we can’t permit projects,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said in a February post on X. Around 60% of Alaska is federal land.

Murkowski spokesperson Joe Plesha told Reuters that the workforce disruption is affecting energy projects awaiting permitting.

Our look at doge.gov/savings shows a listing of 7,488 grant terminations. DOGE says it represents some $17 billion in savings. Much of the “receipts” are empty, but one featured a document that showed “savings” on a contract that was actually completed two days after Trump took office. A further perusal of the “descriptions,” theoretically listed to explain the neon green dollar figures set against the site’s black background is meaningless, but “are forthcoming,” according to the site language.

Meanwhile, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says that Trump’s trade war is poised to bring global economic growth to a halt and stoke inflation.

The audacious application of “move fast and break things,” originally made famous more than a decade ago at the firm previously known as Facebook, was trotted out during Trump’s first term via disgraced kingmaker Steve Bannon.

In 2017, Bannon reportedly told Republican National Committee members that the Trump team expected a lean team to manage elections. One person told the New York Times that Bannon shockingly told those present: “Your job is to move fast and break things. Figure out what needs doing, and then just do it. Don’t wait for permission.”

The philosophy is now being applied throughout the U.S. government via geopolitical inconsistency, reckless and likely unlawful terminations and a general indifference toward allied relationships that have, since the finale of World War II, protected the world from dictatorial whims. It’s action without foresight, thoughtful consideration or regard for consequences.

“Move fast and break things” is more akin to how a frustrated toddler navigates the world. The approach is unsuitable in leadership.