Trump selects Doug Burgum as Interior Secretary. Here's what you need to know: NPR
Doug Burgum, who ran against Trump for the Republican nomination, encourages voters to support Donald Trump during a January 2024 campaign rally in Laconia, New Hampshire President, but later withdrew and supported him.
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WHO:Doug Burgum
Nominated as: Minister of Interior
you may know him: 2024 Republican presidential primary. The former North Dakota governor drew on his experience as a successful businessman before dropping out of the primary and becoming an outspoken supporter of former President Donald Trump, then the front-runner. And entered the vice presidential candidate list.
More information about Burgum:
- In 2001, he sold his software company to Microsoft for $1.1 billion.
- He was a big promoter of oil and gas drilling.
- He pledged that North Dakota would become carbon neutral by 2030, primarily through carbon capture and storage.
Location: The Department of the Interior oversees public and federal lands and their natural resources, overseen by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the National Park Service, and the Fish and Wildlife Service.
If confirmed as Interior Secretary, Doug Burgum would be key to achieving one of the Trump administration's overarching goals: “Drill, baby, drill“.
The Interior Department manages about one-fifth of the U.S.'s land and waters, giving Burgum, a former governor of the oil-rich state, significant leverage to increase domestic oil and gas production, which has reached reached the peak. Time high. But the vast department also oversees national parks and monuments, endangered species protections and relations with federally recognized Native American tribes.
During the first Trump administration, the Interior Department cut regulations to make it easier to drill on federal lands, significantly reduced the power and scope of the Endangered Species Act and reduced the size of two national monuments. Deb Haaland, Interior Secretary during the Biden administration, reversed many of those actions and focused on promoting conservation and renewable energy.
Burgum is expected to turn things around again. Burgum's pro-drilling stance is clear, and as Trump's nominee to head the newly proposed National Energy Commission, the agency that would oversee the regulatory process for government agencies, he would have considerable power to push for fossil fuels. Mining.
He takes a more ambiguous view of conservation issues.
His confirmation hearing, scheduled for Thursday at 10 a.m. ET, will provide a clearer picture of his priorities.
Burgum worked as a software executive before entering politics to run for governor in 2016. In 2001, he sold his company, Great Plains Software, to Microsoft for $1.1 billion. As governor, he presided over North Dakota's record oil production, although much of it occurred on private rather than public lands. He also pledged to make North Dakota carbon neutral by 2030, primarily through carbon capture and storage rather than a significant increase in renewable energy.
Burgum is likely to face questions from senators about privatizing public lands for drilling. Federal lands currently account for about a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, and significantly increasing fossil fuel production there could increase climate-warming gases.
On the conservation front, Burgum is likely to be asked whether he supports weakening the Endangered Species Act, shrinking or eliminating national monuments established by the Biden administration, and drilling in sensitive areas like Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
He is expected to be confirmed.