Five States Now Selling Sub-$2 Gas: A Return to American Energy Dominance

“As President Trump’s energy dominance vision continues to come to fruition, energy prices will fall further—igniting other price declines,” reads a recent DOI statement.

After years of volatility at the pump, U.S. gas prices in late 2025 have fallen to their lowest December average levels since 2020. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $2.895 as of mid-December 2025.

Even better, the national average is predicted to hit $2.29 by Christmas Day. A welcome holiday gift indeed.

A release by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) touts that Americans can even find gas below $2 per gallon in at least five states—those states being Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado. One Texas station is offering gas at $1.68 per gallon.

“As President Trump’s energy dominance vision continues to come to fruition, energy prices will fall further—igniting other price declines,” reads the DOI statement.

To understand the significance of current price levels, it helps to look back at the historical context. In 2020, during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, gasoline demand plunged to the lowest nominal levels since before the 2009 recession.

Since then, prices climbed back as demand recovered and global energy markets tightened. Domestically, rampant inflation under President Biden (which hit an eye-watering high of 9.1%) accelerated the devaluation of the American dollar, “fueled by Radical Left spending,” in the words of the Trump administration.

To the current President’s credit, Trump has made energy production and affordability a central plank of their domestic agenda. In his first month in office, President Trump signed an Executive Order establishing the National Energy Dominance Council with the goal of establishing American energy dominance as “the most reliable way to ensure the stability and affordability of American energy prices.”

US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has implemented this strategy, in part, by working on sweeping permitting reforms designed to speed energy infrastructure development.  Since January, the Interior Department has approved thousands of new drilling permits, with approval levels surpassing any comparable period over the past 15 years and running more than 50 percent higher than under the previous administration.

“Our nation’s broken permitting process has been abused for decades to block affordable, reliable energy production,” said Burgum. “These reforms … will help unleash America’s full potential as a global leader in innovation, growth and development.”

Burgum and the Bureau of Land Management have also made strides to streamlined leasing on public lands, which has translated to 16 lease sales across 10 states—opening roughly 166,000 acres for development. BLM has also moved to accelerate oil and gas activity in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, streamlined leasing and permitting on public lands, and revised technical rules to improve production efficiency. 

“Under this administration, the Department of Interior has prioritized rescinding the last administration’s flawed energy policies and is working tirelessly to unleash Alaska’s untapped natural resources,” read the DOI release. 

That’s all domestic energy policy. On the foreign policy side, President Trump continues to leverage tariffs as a bargaining tool to secure favorable energy deals with other nations. Despite protests from his detractors who continue to decry tariffs, President Trump just signed the biggest trade agreement in US history with the European Union—a deal which secures $750 billion worth of energy over the next three years in exchange for tariff relief.

“It's a good deal,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “It will bring stability. It will bring predictability. That's very important for our businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.”

And yet, prices in coastal states with higher taxes and stricter environmental fuel standards remain well above the national average. Commenters on news stories about the low gas prices frequently point this out. 

In response to Newsmax’s reporting that “gasoline prices are expected to fall further this holiday season, offering holiday travelers relief at the pump” one commenter adds “unless you’re in California and it’s almost $5 per gallon… because the Dems would rather buy foreign oil than our own and shutout refineries.”

“Not in California,” adds another. “Thanks @gavinnewsom.”