Former President Donald Trump with North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum during a GOP primary campaign event on January 22 in Laconia, New Hampshire. Burgum had withdrawn from the 2024 presidential race the month before. Matt Rourke/Associated Press
President-elect Donald Trump announced Thursday that North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum (R) is his choice to lead the Department of the Interior, an agency responsible for managing 500 million acres of federal land – roughly one-fifth of the United States – 63 of which are national parks.
Trump made the announcement during a gala at his private club Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
“He’s going to lead the Department of the Interior, and he’s going to be fantastic,” Trump said, adding that he planned to make a formal announcement on Friday.
Burgum, a billionaire businessman and two-term governor, comes from a state with little federal land but is a top oil producer. He briefly ran against Trump for the 2024 Republican Party nomination, but dropped out before the primaries and endorsed 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 regulations and protections. An analysis in mid-2020 found that, by the numbers, Trump was the most anti-conservative president in US history, having weakened security measures for some 35 million hectares – almost a thousand times more than he protected.
During his campaign, Trump — who does not believe man-made carbon emissions are warming the world, despite widespread scientific consensus — promised to “drill, baby, drill” and “release the vast reserves of liquid gold to the American public.” country for energy development.” He and the Republican Party have repeatedly accused the Biden administration of being “at war with” fossil fuels, ignoring the fact that oil and gas production soared to record highs under Joe Biden.
At the helm of the massive Interior Department, Burgum — who has personal financial ties to GOP megadonor and oil billionaire Harold Hamm — would play a key role in advancing Trump’s pro-development, anti-conservation agenda.
At the Republican National Convention this summer, Burgum denounced 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.”
