BASE PRODUCTION CONTROL LEVEL FOR MARGINAL PROPERTIES 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, and in order to delay the decontrol of marginal oil wells, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1-101. For purposes of the pricing regulations adopted pursuant to the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973, with respect to months commencing after December 31, 1979, the base production control level for marginal properties shall equal 20 percent of the total number of barrels of old crude oil produced and sold from the property concerned during calendar year 1978, divided by 365, multiplied by the number of days during the month in 1978 which corresponds to the month concerned. 1-102. For purposes of this Order, the term "marginal properties" has the same meaning as that term under the crude oil pricing regulations adopted pursuant to the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973, as amended. 1-103. The Secretary of Energy may, pursuant to Executive Order No. 11790, as amended by Executive Order No. 12038, adopt such regulations as he deems necessary or appropriate to conform the crude oil pricing regulations to this Order. JIMMY CARTER The White House, December 29, 1979. [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 12:43 p.m., December 31, 1979]
Executive Order 12187 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
Executive Order 12187—Decontrol of Marginal Oil Wells
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 1 min read (252 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
For purposes of the pricing regulations adopted pursuant to the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973, with respect to months commencing after December 31, 1979, the base production control level for marginal properties shall equal 20 percent of the total number of barrels of old crude oil produced and sold from the property concerned during calendar year 1978, divided by 365, multiplied by the number of days during the month in 1978 which corresponds to the month concerned. 1-102.
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Executive Branch Departments General Body of the People
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 December 29, 1979, this order concerns Decontrol of Marginal Oil Wells. 1-101. For purposes of the pricing regulations adopted pursuant to the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973, with respect to months commencing after December 31, 1979, the base production control level for marginal properties shall equal 20 percent of the total number of barrels of old crude oil produced and sold from the property concerned during calendar year 1978, divided by 365, multiplied by the number…
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
▪
For purposes of the pricing regulations adopted pursuant to the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973, with respect to months commencing after December 31, 1979, the base production control level for marginal properties shall equal 20 percent of the total number of barrels of old crude oil produced and sold from the property concerned during calendar year 1978, divided by 365, multiplied by the number of days during the month in 1978 which corresponds to the month concerned. 1-102.
▪
For purposes of this Order, the term "marginal properties" has the same meaning as that term under the crude oil pricing regulations adopted pursuant to the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973, as amended. 1-103.
▪
The Secretary of Energy may, pursuant to Executive Order No. 11790, as amended by Executive Order No. 12038, adopt such regulations as he deems necessary or appropriate to conform the crude oil pricing regulations to this Order.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Executive Branch Departments
🏛️ General Body of the People
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
📐
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
252
1,558 characters
Estimated Read Time
1 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
12.8
High School
Text size:
🔗
Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)
Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.
Jimmy Carter • 1980-04-16
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 12188 Amended Jan 2, 1980
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Fidelity (+0.23)
Executive Order 12188—International Trade Functions
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
The United States Trade Representative. (a) Except as may be otherwise expressly provided by law, the United States Trade Representative (hereinafter referred to as the "Trade Representative") shall be chief representative of the United States for: (1) all activities of, or…
Jimmy Carter Post-Graduate Legal • 10m
EO 12186 Dec 21, 1979
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 12186—Price Controls on Heavy Crude Oil
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
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.), Executive Order No. 12153 is hereby amended by deleting Section 1-102…
Jimmy Carter Grade 9 • 1m
EO 12185 Dec 17, 1979
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Fidelity (+0.29)
Executive Order 12185—Conservation of Petroleum and Natural Gas
📜 Art. II §3: Faithful Execution of Statutory Law
1-101. Each Federal agency, as that term is defined in Section 103(a) (25) of the Power plant and Industrial Fuel Use Act of 1978 (92 Stat. 3297), shall effectuate through its financial assistance programs the purposes of that Act relating to the conservation of petroleum and…
Jimmy Carter College Level • 3m
EO 12184 Dec 17, 1979
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Fidelity (+0.29)
Executive Order 12184—President's Special Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research
📜 Art. II §3: Faithful Execution of Statutory Law
1-101. There is established the President's Special Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research.
Jimmy Carter Post-Graduate Legal • 2m
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 12,187 (Dec. 29, 1979), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-12187-decontrol-marginal-oil-wells.
