Senate Approves Burgum’s Appointment as Trump’s Interior Secretary

January 30, 2025 TruthUSA

The former two-term governor of North Dakota will serve as the key architect of the president’s energy strategy.

The Senate has confirmed former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum to head the Department of the Interior (DOI), where he will oversee 500 million acres of public lands and 1.7 billion acres offshore as he implements President Donald Trump’s “unleash American energy” agenda.

On January 30, the Senate granted its approval for Burgum’s appointment as Interior Secretary with a 79–18 vote, facing minimal opposition to the affluent former software executive, who will lead the 70,000-employee DOI and manage an annual budget of $18 billion.

In his role as DOI secretary, Burgum will establish policies for 11 agencies and 14 offices, such as the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.

“We find ourselves in an era of immense abundance, and we can tap into that prosperity by choosing innovation over regulation,” he remarked during his confirmation hearing.

When announcing his nomination at a November 14 gala at Mar-a-Lago, Trump stated that Burgum is “going to be fantastic” in leading his administration’s efforts “to utilize energy and land in ways that are remarkable.”

At 68 years old, Burgum has already completed two terms as the governor of North Dakota. His first entry into politics came during his 2016 election campaign, after retiring from Microsoft in 2007, following its acquisition of his Great Plains Software start-up for $1.1 billion in 2001.

Burgum was relatively unknown outside of North Dakota when he kicked off his 2024 underdog Republican presidential campaign in June 2023. He exited the GOP primaries in December 2023 and subsequently endorsed Trump a month later.

In a November 2023 interview with The Epoch Times’ sister media NTD, prior to his withdrawal from the race, he identified energy as one of his main issues, alongside the economy and national security.

“As a governor, I have had a close-up view,” he explained, listing initiatives from entities such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management, both of which fall under the purview of the interior secretary.

Having governed a state rich in natural gas that thrived during the “shale revolution,” Burgum supported multiple energy sources and committed to achieving carbon neutrality for North Dakota by 2030, focusing on hydrogen cell innovation, biofuels, and carbon capture—technologies that are yet to be proven commercially viable.

During his January 16 nomination hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Burgum moderated his previous enthusiasm for renewable energies, expressing his intention to be “aggressive” in opening public lands for oil and gas exploration to correct an “imbalance” in federal leasing policies that has limited the nation’s ability to produce the base-load electricity necessary for competing against “the AI race with China.”

“Currently, our biggest shortfall is base load. We require more [energy]. A comprehensive strategy is needed, but it must be balanced,” he stated.

According to Burgum, among the quickest and most cost-effective methods to increase base-load electricity is by lifting restrictions on fossil fuel production imposed by Biden on public lands and offshore, which were dismissed by Trump in an “Unleashing American Energy” executive actions package issued just four days after his inauguration.

The new secretary indicated that approximately $1 trillion in tax credits, low-interest loans, and grant programs designed to boost renewable energy projects under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) “might have been too effective, resulting in substantial investments in initiatives that are intermittent and inconsistent,” hindering the affordability and reliability required to support a 21st-century economy.

“Without base load reliability, intermittent renewable energy projects divert public and private funding away from critical energy infrastructure, such as natural gas pipelines,” Burgum asserted.

Following an 18–2 approval from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on January 23, Burgum advanced to full Senate confirmation.

Ranking member Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) expressed that, despite being cautious, Burgum is qualified for the position, possesses a strong understanding of energy development and policy, and has shown an ability to build consensus in tough situations.

“We also heard him share his passion for nature and his commitment to preserving public lands in line with Teddy Roosevelt’s vision,” he remarked during the January 16 nomination hearing.

Nonetheless, Heinrich highlighted that Burgum’s assertion that wind and solar power are unreliable energy sources that are not competitive with thermal generation, along with his stance on battery technology being unready for commercial deployment, are not only incorrect but also concerning, especially since investments in emerging energy technologies are starting to yield commercial results.

Trump has repeatedly mentioned that Burgum will chair a newly established National Energy Council, though the formation of this council has yet to be announced.

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