DECONTROL OF HEAVY OIL By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and statutes of the United States of America, including the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973, as amended (15 U.S.C. 751 et seq.), and notwithstanding the delegations to the Secretary of Energy in Executive Order No. 11790, as amended by Executive Order No. 12038, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1-101. Effective August 17, 1979, prices charged in the first sale of heavy crude oil are exempted from price controls adopted pursuant to the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973, as amended. For purposes of this section, the term "heavy crude oil" means all crude oil produced from a property, but only if, during the last month prior to July 1979 in which crude oil was produced and sold from that property, such crude oil had a weighted average gravity of 16.0° API or less, corrected to 60° Fahrenheit. 1-102. The Secretary of Energy, or his delegate, shall expeditiously conduct a public inquiry as to what other types of heavy crude oil, if any, should be exempted from price controls adopted pursuant to the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973, as amended, in order to maintain or increase production of such crude oil. Upon completion of that inquiry, the Secretary shall make a recommendation to the President as to what other types of heavy crude oil, if any, should be exempt from price controls. 1—103. The Secretary of Energy may pursuant to Executive Order 11790, as amended by Executive Order 12038, adopt such regulations as he deems necessary to implement this Order. JIMMY CARTER The White House, August 17, 1979. [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 3:32 p.m., August 17, 1979]
Executive Order 12153 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
Executive Order 12153—Price Controls on Heavy Crude Oil
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 1 min read (288 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
Effective August 17, 1979, prices charged in the first sale of heavy crude oil are exempted from price controls adopted pursuant to the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973, as amended.
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Private Citizens & Property Owners
Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis
Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.
Signed by President Jimmy Carter on August 17, 1979, this order concerns Price Controls on Heavy Crude Oil. 1-101. Effective August 17, 1979, prices charged in the first sale of heavy crude oil are exempted from price controls adopted pursuant to the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973, as amended. For purposes of this section, the term "heavy crude oil" means all crude oil produced from a property, but only if, during the last month prior to July 1979 in which crude oil was produced and sold from that property…
Constitutional Assessment: Evaluated against the Fifth Amendment, this action touches upon property or economic rights. An early statesman would insist upon strict adherence to due process of law and the constitutional guarantee that private holdings shall not be encumbered or taken for public purposes without just compensation and lawful process.
Key Directives & Operative Actions
▪
Effective August 17, 1979, prices charged in the first sale of heavy crude oil are exempted from price controls adopted pursuant to the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973, as amended.
▪
The Secretary of Energy, or his delegate, shall expeditiously conduct a public inquiry as to what other types of heavy crude oil, if any, should be exempted from price controls adopted pursuant to the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973, as amended, in order to maintain or increase production of such crude oil.
▪
Upon completion of that inquiry, the Secretary shall make a recommendation to the President as to what other types of heavy crude oil, if any, should be exempt from price controls. 1—103.
▪
The Secretary of Energy may pursuant to Executive Order 11790, as amended by Executive Order 12038, adopt such regulations as he deems necessary to implement this Order.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners
Policy Areas & Topics
🏛️
The Framers' Constitutional Council
1787 PrismEvaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight)
§
"When the President acts in absence of either a congressional grant or denial of authority, he can only rely upon his own independent powers, but there is a zone of twilight in which he and Congress may have concurrent authority."
— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
JM
James Madison
Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy
"Power is of an encroaching nature, and it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it." — Federalist No. 48 (1788)
Madison would view this order with watchful scrutiny. Operating in the 'Zone of Twilight' where Congress is silent, each such directive establishes an administrative precedent that steadily expands the executive perimeter at the expense of legislative primacy.
Madisonian Stance: Vigilant / Cautionary
AH
Alexander Hamilton
The Energetic Executive & Unified Command
"A feeble Executive implies a feeble execution of the government; and a government ill executed, whatever it may be in theory, must be, in practice, a bad government." — Federalist No. 70 (1788)
Hamilton would view this directive as the natural and indispensable functioning of administrative leadership. Without the power to coordinate agencies, manage personnel, and resolve operational ambiguities, the modern presidency would be reduced to an impotent figurehead.
Hamiltonian Stance: Defends Vigor & Dispatch
GM
George Mason
Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment
"The purse and the sword ought never to be in the same hands... nor the liberties of the citizen placed at the pleasure of a single magistrate." — Virginia Ratifying Convention (1788)
George Mason and the Anti-Federalists would sound a fierce warning. They feared that Article II would inevitably evolve into an elective monarchy. When an executive order impacts private rights, property, or civil liberties without individualized judicial process, Mason would see their darkest predictions verified.
Anti-Federalist Stance: High Bill of Rights Scrutiny
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Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions
An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.
⚖️ Discretionary Twilight Zone
35 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8
Low Friction
Legislative Encroachment & Purse
Operates within delegated statutory execution without modifying legislative appropriations or taxing powers.
Benchmark: Power of the purse, taxes/tariffs, and rule of law reserved to Congress.
Dimension 2 • Art. II, §1 & §3
Moderate Friction
Executive Scope & Faithfulness
Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.
Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment
Moderate Friction
Federalism & State Sovereignty
Engages state and local partners in cooperative federalism programs.
Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.
Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments
Low Friction
Due Process & Individual Rights
Focuses on internal governmental operations with no direct impairment of private rights or property.
Benchmark: Protection of private property, contracts, liberty, and procedural justice.
Dimension 5 • Separation of Powers
Moderate Friction
Youngstown Jacksonian Tier
The order relies on inherent Article II executive discretion, civil service management, or foreign diplomacy where Congress has neither expressly approved nor prohibited action.
Benchmark: Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
⚖️
Audit Synthesis
This order operates within Justice Jackson’s Zone of Twilight, resting upon concurrent presidential authority or congressional silence.
Weighted composite: Art. I (25%), Art. II (25%), Federalism (15%), Due Process (15%), Youngstown (20%).
ℹ️
How to read these dimensions: Executive power expands whenever an administration acts without explicit statutory authorization from Congress (Article I), touches upon police powers historically reserved to the states (Tenth Amendment), or limits private rights and property without judicial process. A low friction score indicates strict concordance with enacted law; a high friction score highlights orders testing the limits of presidential discretion.
Total Words
288
1,714 characters
Estimated Read Time
1 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
12.3
High School
Text size:
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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (2)
Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.
Jimmy Carter • 1980-01-16
Jimmy Carter • 1979-12-21
Related Executive Orders
2 orders cited directly in this text, plus related actions from this administration.
EO 11790 Amended Jun 25, 1974
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11790—Providing for the Effectuation of the Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Pursuant to the authority vested in me by section 30 of the Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974, notice is hereby given that that act shall be effective as of June 27, 1974.
Richard Nixon Post-Graduate Legal • 5m
EO 12038 Feb 3, 1978
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Fidelity (+0.33)
Executive Order 12038—Department of Energy
📜 Art. II §2: Diplomatic & Foreign Policy Prerogative
Functions of the Federal Energy Administration. In accordance with the transfer of all functions vested by law in the Federal Energy Administration, or the Administrator thereof, to the Secretary of Energy pursuant to Section 301 (a) of the Department of Energy Organization…
Jimmy Carter Post-Graduate Legal • 8m
EO 12152 Aug 14, 1979
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 12152—Federal Government Organization and Employees
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
The functions vested in the President by Sections 305(b), 4111(b), and 4112 (a) of Title 5 of the United States Code are hereby delegated to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Jimmy Carter College Level • 1m
EO 12151 Aug 14, 1979
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 12151—President's Commission on the Holocaust
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
-401 of Executive Order No. 12093 of November 1, 1978, is amended to read as follows: "1-401. The Commission shall submit its final report to the President and the Secretary of the Interior not later than September 28, 1979.".
Jimmy Carter High School • 1m
EO 12154 Amended Sep 4, 1979
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 12154—Executive Schedule
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
1-1. Executive Schedule Positions. 1-101. The following positions are placed in level IV of the Executive Schedule: (a) Senior Adviser to the Secretary, Department of State. (b) Deputy Under Secretary for International Labor Affairs, Department of Labor.
Jimmy Carter High School • 1m
EO 12156 Sep 10, 1979
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 12156—Federal Emergency Management Agency; Department of Energy
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
1-101. Section 5-211 of Executive Order No. 12148 of July 20, 1979, is corrected and amended to read: "Section 1-102 of Executive Order No. 12083, as amended by Executive Order No. 12121, is further amended by adding in alphabetical order "(z) The Director of the Federal…
Jimmy Carter College Level • 1m
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 12,153 (Aug. 17, 1979), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-12153-price-controls-heavy-crude-oil.
