BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) When Donald Trump nominated Doug Burguma as the governor of oil-rich North Dakota, he gave him a single task: to head an organization that manages half a billion acres of federal property and large swaths of offshore territory: Drill, baby drill.
With environmentalists concerned about climate change already vowing their opposition, the president-elect’s directive to appoint Burgum as Secretary of the Interior sets the stage for a resurgence of the legal battles over public lands and waters that shaped Trump’s first term.
Growing up on his family’s farm, Burgum is a very wealthy software industry entrepreneur. In comparison to other Trump Cabinet nominees, he is a moderate option.
His background as a well-liked two-term governor who identifies with environmentalist Teddy Roosevelt, according to public lands specialists, indicates a propensity to work together rather than dismantle the organization he is responsible for overseeing.
That might facilitate his confirmation and make it easier for the next government to swiftly approve the development and commercial usage of additional public lands.
FILE – A flare for burning excess methane, or natural gas, from crude oil production is seen at a well pad in Watford City, N.D., Aug. 26, 2021. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)
Image: Matthew Brown/Associated Press
John Leshy, the former counsel for the Interior under former President Bill Clinton, stated, “I think Burgum is a credible nominee who could do a credible job as Interior secretary.”
Leshy, an emeritus professor at the University of California College of the Law in San Francisco, adding, “He’s not a right-wing radical on public lands.”
With a responsibility that includes everything from natural resource exploitation and wildlife conservation and recreation to meeting treaty commitments with Native American tribes, the Interior Department oversees roughly one-fifth of the nation’s land.
The majority of those properties are in the West, where conflicts with state representatives and individual landowners are frequent and have occasionally escalated into violent altercations with right-wing organizations that oppose federal authority.
With the exception of coal mining, a dying industry that he was unable to revive during his first term, Trump’s exclusive focus on fossil fuels is a rerun of his 2016 campaign. On the campaign trail this year, Trump essentially ignored any mention of coal and praised oil as liquid gold on numerous occasions.
About 26 percent of the oil produced in the United States originates from federal lands and Interior-regulated offshore areas. Despite Trump’s accusations that the Democrat obstructed drilling, production has continued to reach record levels under President Joe Biden.
Volumes might be increased even more, according to industry executives and their Republican allies. They want Burgum and the Interior Department to increase sales of gas and oil from federal lands, including offshore Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.
The oil business also believes that environmental evaluations would be significantly reduced by Trump’s government efficiency drive, which is spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk.
The Biden administration reinstated environmental regulations that had been loosened under Trump and decreased the number and magnitude of lease sales. As a 2020 contender, the Democrat pledged more drilling limits to help fight global warming, but he made a deal for the 2022 climate law that permits the sale of offshore oil and gas before leases for renewable energy can be auctioned.
According to Erik Milito of the National Ocean businesses Association, which advocates for offshore businesses like wind and oil, “without leasing, you don’t get the billions of dollars in revenue that comes from oil and gas.”
Trump has sworn to shut down offshore wind farms. However, Milito expressed his optimism that, now that Burgum was in place, everything—not just oil and gas—would be approved.
Some of the most contentious actions taken at the agency during Trump’s first term, such as moving top officials out of Washington, D.C., dismantling portions of the Endangered Species Act, and reducing the size of two national monuments in Utah that former President Barack Obama had designated, are not certain to be reinstated under Burgum.
Biden’s officials have largely spent the last four years undoing Trump’s actions. They repealed many Trump policies and restored the monuments in Utah. While many wind and solar projects progressed, onshore oil and gas lease sales fell sharply from over a million acres sold annually under Trump and other previous administrations to just 91,712 acres (37,115 hectares) sold last year.
Oil firms own millions of acres that are undeveloped, and it takes years to develop energy leases.
By enacting a rule that would put conservation on par with oil and gas production, the Biden administration significantly increased the significance of conservation in decisions pertaining to public lands. In order to save the greater sage grouse, a threatened bird species, they suggested removing portions of land in six states from possible future mining.
Among the Republican states that contested the Biden administration’s public lands rule was North Dakota. In a lawsuit filed in June, the states said that officials working to stop climate change had changed rules intended to promote growth into regulations that hindered drilling, grazing by cattle, and other uses.
Improved drilling methods have played a major role in North Dakota’s oil production growth during the last 20 years. As a champion for the business, Burgum last year signed legislation repealing the state soil tax trigger, a price-based tax increase that was backed by industry leaders.
Burgum’s staff turned down a request for an interview.
Trump’s demand for American energy dominance in the world market was echoed by Burgum in a statement following his selection. With an emphasis on maximizing the prudent use of our natural resources with environmental stewardship for the benefit of the American people, the 68-year-old governor added that the Interior position presented a chance to strengthen government ties with developers, tribes, landowners, and outdoor enthusiasts.
The government placed more of an emphasis on collaborating with tribes, including on their own energy initiatives, under current Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. In addition to leading a national reckoning on abuses at federal Indian boarding schools that resulted in Biden’s formal public apology, Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna tribe in New Mexico, advanced an initiative to solve criminal cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous peoples.
Burgum has collaborated on oil development projects with the tribes in his state. Burgum has also been a strong advocate for North Dakota tourism and outdoor pursuits like fishing and hunting, according to Shannon Straight, director of the Badlands Conservation Alliance in Bismarck, North Dakota.
However, according to Straight, that hasn’t resulted in more safeguards for the state’s land.
“We talk and hold that up as a beautiful standard to live by,” he remarked, referring to Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation ethic. On the ground, we haven’t noticed it as much. We must acknowledge that the landscape will only be as nice as a few extra safeguards.
Burgum has advocated for the proposedMedora, North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.
If verified, he would be subject to a lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court that aims to assert state authority over the Interior Department’s territory in Utah. The lawsuit has received backing from the attorney general of North Dakota. Burgum’s staff refused to confirm whether he supports Utah’s allegations.
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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.
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