Trump Formally Taps Burgum to Head Interior, New Energy Council
(Bloomberg) -- President-elect Donald Trump said he intends to nominate Doug Burgum to lead the Department of the Interior and a newly created National Energy Council, giving the North Dakota governor significant influence over the incoming administration’s efforts to boost domestic oil and gas production.
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“Doug Burgum will protect our Nation’s Natural Resources, restore our fabulous Oil and Gas advantage, and Make America, and its Energy, Dominant and Great Again!,” Trump said in a statement on his Truth Social network on Friday.
The incoming president had announced that Burgum would be his pick for Interior Thursday night. But he formalized the selection on Friday and also announced the new council, which he said would “consist of all Departments and Agencies involved in the permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation, transportation, of ALL forms of American Energy.”
The role, akin to the position of White House climate adviser created under President Joe Biden’s administration, would involve coordinating agencies such as the Department of Interior, Environmental Protection Agency, and Energy Department, amid a pledge by Trump to revamp environmental regulations he says hamper US energy production. Trump said that as chair of the National Energy Council, Burgum would also have a seat on the National Security Council.
The posts stand to place Burgum in charge of executing Trump’s plans to roll back Biden-era regulations on power plants and cars, increase domestic oil drilling, and oversee the construction of scores of new power plants that the president-elect has said are needed to meet the booming power demand wrought by artificial intelligence.
Trump has vowed to end climate policies he’s dubbed Washington’s “green new scam,” promising to get producers pumping more oil and gas to bring down energy costs as well as declare a national emergency to achieve a massive increase in domestic energy supply.
The Interior Department oversees energy development, grazing and other activities on federal waters and some 500 million acres of public land. The territory is responsible for roughly a quarter of the country’s oil production, according to government data. Industry leaders have called on Trump to auction more of it for future development.
Under Trump, Burgum would likely be under pressure to ramp up the sale of oil and gas leases, including in the Gulf of Mexico, where those auctions had been constrained under Biden.
The government’s current offshore leasing plan plots just three auctions between 2024 and 2029 — the lowest level ever, and one of several moves to constrain oil and gas development on federal lands and waters. Under Biden, the Interior Department also imposed a regulation thwarting drilling across more than half of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, where ConocoPhillips and other oil companies hold leases.
Although Trump can direct his Interior Department to revise those policies right away, some would take a while to take effect. For instance, it could take as long as two years for the agency to finish necessary environmental reviews and clear other procedural requirements before it could impose a new, expedited schedule for selling offshore drilling rights.
Some energy executives cheered Trump’s selection, saying Burgum has the experience and necessary industry knowledge. They expect Burgum to draw on his history as governor of energy-rich North Dakota, where he had a close-up view of surging oil production.
“President Trump is set on reclaiming America’s dominance, and US oil is our power play,” said Dan Eberhart, chief executive officer of oilfield services company Canary LLC. “Governor Burgum is the leader to drive it forward.”
Energy-Rich Home
Burgum, 68, ran a long-shot bid for the Republican nomination before dropping out and endorsing Trump. A technology entrepreneur and venture capital investor, Burgum was born in Arthur, North Dakota — a town of roughly 300 residents in the heart of the Bakken shale oil patch.
Burgum himself campaigned during the primary on promises to unleash American energy production, criticizing climate policies he said threaten to deepen US reliance on Chinese technology.
But as governor, Burgum’s record is more nuanced. He embraced a policy that could be seen delivering a fatal blow to fossil fuels — reaching carbon neutrality by 2030 — and even unveiled his pitch at an oil conference.
Before entering politics, Burgum earned an MBA from Stanford University, worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Co., and leveraged his family farm to start a tech company called Great Plains Software. He then sold his firm in 2001 to Microsoft Corp. for $1.1 billion and stayed on as a senior vice president until 2007.
He later founded real estate development company Kilbourne Group and venture capital firm Arthur Ventures before entering politics and winning his first term as governor in 2016.
Burgum’s extensive connections to the business and tech world helped him build support for his own presidential bid in the 2024 cycle. After exiting the race, he became an energetic surrogate for Trump, crisscrossing the country to appear at campaign events and tapping his connections with deep-pocketed donors to build the president-elect’s war chest.
Those efforts propelled Burgum into Trump’s circle and onto the short list the president-elect considered for his running mate.
Energy Production
Trump also leaned on Burgum for energy expertise during his campaign — foreshadowing his selection for the Interior role.
“As North Dakota’s governor, he’s shown he can balance environmental stewardship with record energy development,” said John Barrasso, a Republican senator from Wyoming. “He recognizes how important our federal lands are for energy and mineral production, grazing, and recreation.”
If confirmed by the Senate, Burgum would also play a pivotal role in shaping the near-term future for offshore wind farms planned near US coasts. The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has already approved 10 commercial-scale offshore wind projects in federal waters hugging the US East Coast.
But several more are still in the planning phase, making them especially vulnerable to any shifts in permitting at the agency, including a potential pause in those reviews. Existing lawsuits against already approved projects also could open a window for the Trump administration to settle cases and revisit previous authorizations.
The Interior Department has a sprawling mission that extends beyond energy and land management. Its most public-facing interaction is perhaps as the chief operator of the national park system. But it’s also critical to Native Americans: The Interior Department upholds federal responsibilities to Native Americans, and its Bureau of Indian Affairs works directly with 578 federally recognized Native American tribes.
It’s also the lead agency in making decisions about which plants and animals qualify for protection under the Endangered Species Act.
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