The Senate on Thursday confirmed the nomination of former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to be Interior secretary by a vote of 79-18.
Burgum will be tasked with supporting President Donald Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda as the head of a department that manages over 70 percent of all federal public lands. Trump has said Burgum will also serve on a National Energy Council, to be created by executive order, whose mission Burgum described as reducing “red tape and bureaucratic redundancy between agencies” to increase domestic energy production.
As Interior secretary, Burgum will lead a department that houses the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Indian Education.
Burgum sailed through his confirmation hearing with little criticism from Democrats, even as he acknowledged he’ll work to increase oil and natural gas production on public lands to “achieve energy dominance.”
He’s expected to reverse Biden administration policies Republicans blame for stifling drilling, even as domestic oil production reached record levels under the former president. Republicans argue that it could have been higher.
“Under the Biden administration, the Interior Department was the tip of the spear in restricting development of America’s resources,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Thursday on the Senate floor. “I’m pleased that Gov. Burgum is committed to restoring the multiple-use approach to managing public lands.”
As North Dakota governor, Burgum strove for an “all-of-the-above energy policy” and supported decarbonization technology. In 2021 he set a target for the state to reach carbon neutrality by 2030, which he said would be accomplished in part by using carbon capture and storage.
As Interior secretary, Burgum has jurisdiction over clean energy permitting on federal lands and waters, a sector Trump has already moved to eliminate by halting leases for both onshore and offshore wind projects.
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said on the Senate floor that the early moves by the Trump administration to bolster fossil fuels come at the expense of renewable energy, and that Burgum and other Trump nominees would help further that aim.
Schatz, ranking member of the Indian Affairs Committee, said he ultimately chose to vote against Burgum after being unable to speak with the nominee regarding how the administration’s attempted freeze on federal grants and loans would affect Native Hawaiian and Native American communities.
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