North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is President-Elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Department of the Interior, but he will also lead Trump’s newly formed National Energy Council, which is tasked with carrying out his energy policy priorities.
Much like Colorado fracking CEO, Chris Wright, Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Energy, Burgum is into fossil fuels and business. Burgum is a co-founder of venture capital firm Arthur Ventures, which has operations across the Midwest.
After winning the North Dakota governorship, Burgum focused on energy policy, calling for carbon neutrality by 2030. Carbon capture and sequestration technology and using stored carbon for enhanced oilfield extraction was a cornerstone of this policy.
In January 2023, Burgum joined a group of North Dakota officials threatening to sue the state of Minnesota and Gov. Tim Walz — Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate in the election she lost to Trump — over that state’s energy policy banning the purchase of electricity generated from carbon-emitting sources.
Like Trump, Burgum is a fan of tall buildings. As a founder of the Kilbourne Group, a Fargo-based property developer, Burgum proposed a 23-story building, completed in 2020, in that city. Burgum has one foot in the technology sector as well, having worked for Microsoft.
According to the DOE’s Energy Information Administration, North Dakota is the third-largest crude oil producer in the U.S. and has large coal and natural gas reserves. While a large hydropower facility and a growing installed wind power capacity makes about a third of North Dakota’s electricity renewable, the state still relies heavily on natural gas and coal for its electricity. The state is also a producer of biofuels and ethanol.
Burgum said during his unsuccessful campaign for president in 2024 that he would not accept a nomination to cabinet by the eventual winner, but eventually announced January 22, 2024 that he would not seek a third term as North Dakota’s governor. He endorsed Trump and campaigned for him, reportedly serving as a top advisor to the campaign on energy policy.
In past statements, Burgum criticized government support for electric vehicles and infrastructure. He also called for more mining for rare earth metals on Bureau of Land Management land. He has also supported building pipelines for carbon capture.
Since securing his re-election, Trump has called Burgum his energy “czar” and said he will lead his newly formed National Energy Council. As such, Burgum will have a seat on the White House National Security Council.
Trump said in a statement that this council will consist of representatives of all federal agencies and departments concerned with the production, permitting, generation, regulation, distribution and transport of all forms of energy. Goals of the council will be “cutting red tape,” encouraging private sector investment in the energy sector and focusing on innovation, Trump wrote.
The centerpieces of energy policy for Trump’s second term have mostly to do with oil and gas production, with frequent mentions of drilling and “unleashing” U.S. energy production. For the DOI, this presumably will involve more extraction on the millions of acres managed by the federal government, potentially including nature preserves and national parks.
The Biden administration was marked by an emphasis on electrification and clean energy funding and research, particularly via the Inflation Reduction Act, which offered tac credits to renewable energy and clean energy R&D. Trump’s energy policies would be a reversal of much of this, with the president elect saying unspent investments in clean energy could be halted.
Environmental groups responded to Burgum’s selection with alarm. The Sierra Club called Burgum’s threats to roll back environmental safeguards “disqualifying” and said his ties to the fossil fuel industry run deep.
Ray Long, President and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), commented on Burgum as well as former Rep. Lee Zeldin, Trump’s pick for the Department of Energy, saying the two will bring experience to their new roles.
“Lowering energy costs for American businesses and consumers, while also meeting our rising electricity needs and supporting U.S. technological leadership, manufacturing, and economic growth are challenges that will require a pragmatic approach. Gov. Burgum and Mr. Wright are nominees who bring deep experience in the energy sector to their roles on the new National Energy Council and as Secretaries of the Interior and Energy, respectively. ACORE looks forward to working with them and learning more about their approaches to meeting these challenges for our energy sector while ensuring that market momentum and private sector investments in affordable, reliable, and clean energy are effectively sustained and harnessed,” Long said.
The DOI is important to the energy sector as it oversees public lands, mineral rights, as well as lands used by Indigenous people, national parks and wildlife refuges.
Biden’s Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is a proponent of offshore wind development and the administration’s clean energy goals.
Under Haaland, the DOI approved 41 renewable energy projects, including some of the largest solar and transmission developments such as the Greenlink West Transmission Project, a 472-mile-long project in Nevada that will connect clean energy sources to power 1.2 million homes, and the Libra Solar Project, according to a release from the DOI.
The Biden administration also saw the U.S.’s first commercial scale offshore wind projects, with 10 major projects approved by the DOI. Trump, who famously opposed an offshore wind project off the coast of his Scotland golf course, has promised to push back on supports for offshore wind. At a rally in May, Trump called offshore wind “horrible,” and “the most expensive energy there is.”
Donald Trump had two secretaries of the Interior during his first term. His first pick, Ryan Zinke, was a former Navy SEAL, business development consultant, property manager and former U.S. Representative from Montana, resigned in 2019 amidst ethics investigations. Zinke’s tenure at DOI saw federally managed lands opened for resource extraction.
Colorado attorney and oil industry lobbyist David Bernhardt was Trump’s second Interior Secretary in his first term, a veteran of George W. Bush’s DOI and prior deputy secretary for Trump. As secretary, Bernhardt ordered plans for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which were halted and eventually canceled by the Biden administration.
