Trump Taps North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum For Interior Chief, Energy Czar
President-elect DonaldTrump on Friday announced that North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), his pick to lead the massive Interior Department, will also serve as his “energy czar,” a White House role in which he will lead the administration’s efforts to boost fossil fuel production and gut environmental regulations.
In a statement posted to social media, Trump said he was “thrilled” to bring Burgum on in both capacities. He noted that the newly formed National Energy Council, which Burgum will chair, “will consist of all Departments and Agencies involved in the permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation, transportation, of ALL forms of American Energy.”
“This Council will oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE by cutting red tape, enhancing private sector investments across all sectors of the Economy, and by focusing on INNOVATION over longstanding, but totally unnecessary, regulation,” Trump wrote.
In his own post to X, formerly Twitter, Burgum said he is “deeply grateful to President [Trump] for this amazing opportunity to serve the American people and achieve ENERGY DOMINANCE!”
I’m deeply grateful to President @RealDonaldTrump for this amazing opportunity to serve the American people and achieve ENERGY DOMINANCE! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/iR8x54IZpK
— Doug Burgum (@DougBurgum) November 15, 2024
If confirmed as head of the Department of the Interior, Burgum will be responsible for managing 500 million acres of federal land ― roughly one-fifth of the United States — including 63 national parks, as well as conserving imperiled species and honoring the government’s trust responsibilities for more than 500 federally recognized tribes.
Trump jumped his own official announcement about the Interior position during a gala at his Mar-a-Lago private club in Florida on Thursday night.
“He’s going to head the Department of Interior, and he’s going to be fantastic,” Trump said at the event.
BREAKING: President Donald J. Trump announces the nomination of Gov. @DougBurgum as Secretary of the Interior pic.twitter.com/hMEfxyGzVL
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) November 15, 2024
Burgum, a billionaire businessman and two-term governor, hails from a state with little federal land, but it’s a top producer of oil. He briefly ran against Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination but dropped out before the primaries, throwing his support behind the former president.
Trump’s return to the White House promises another four years of unfettered fossil fuel development, and will herald the dismantling of environmental rules and protections. An analysis in mid-2020 found that, by the numbers, Trump was the most anti-conservation president in U.S. history, having weakened safeguards for some 35 million acres — nearly 1,000 times more than it protected.
At the helm of the Interior Department, Burgum, who has personal financial ties to GOP mega-donor and oil billionaire Harold Hamm, would play an outsized role in advancing what is certain to be another pro-development, anti-conservation agenda.
On the campaign trail, Trump — who does not believe that human-caused carbon emissions are heating the globe, despite widespread scientific consensus — pledged to “drill, baby, drill” and to “free up the vast stores of liquid gold on America’s public land for energy development.” He and the Republican party writ large have repeatedly accused the Biden administration of being “at war with” fossil fuels, ignoring the fact that under Joe Biden, oil and gas production soared to record highs.
Trump pounded that same drum in his statement Friday.
“The Radical Left’s War on American Energy has hurt our Allies by forcing them to buy from our adversaries, who in turn use those profits to fund Wars and Terror,” he said, adding that Burgum would be “a key leader in ushering in a new ‘Golden Age of American Prosperity’ and World Peace.”
“Doug Burgum will protect our Nation’s Natural Resources, restore our fabulous Oil and Gas advantage, and Make America and its Energy, Dominant and Great Again!” he wrote.
At the Republican National Convention this summer, Burgum slammed Biden’s energy policies and accused him of “acting like a dictator.”
“Teddy Roosevelt encouraged America to speak softly and carry a big stick,” Burgum said. “Energy dominance will be the big stick that President Trump will carry.”
Like several other Trump Cabinet picks, Burgum is a relatively recent MAGA loyalist. He ran against Trump for the GOP presidential nomination but dropped out of the race last December and threw his support behind the former president.
In July 2023, several months before ending his presidential bid, Burgum was asked during an interview with MSNBC if he’d ever do business with Trump.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “I just think it’s important that you are judged by the company you keep.”
