BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Donald Trump has assigned Doug Burgum a unique mission by appointing the governor of oil-rich North Dakota to lead an agency that oversees half a billion acres of federal land and vast offshore areas: “Drill baby drill.”
This dictation from the president-elect’s announcement of Burgum as Secretary of the Interior sets the stage for a revival of the legal battle over public lands and waters that helped define Trump’s first term, with environmentalists concerned about have already pledged their opposition to climate change.
Burgum is an ultra-rich entrepreneur in the software industry who grew up on his family’s farm. He represents a tame choice compared to other Trump Cabinet picks.
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Public lands experts say his experience as a popular two-term governor aligned with conservationist Teddy Roosevelt indicates a willingness to work together, as opposed to dismantling, from the agency he is charged with leading.
That could facilitate his appointment and pave the way for the new administration to take swift action to open more public lands to development and commercial use.
“Burgum strikes me as a credible candidate who could do a credible job as Secretary of the Interior,” said John Leshy, who served as Interior counsel under former President Bill Clinton.
“He is not a right-wing radical on public property,” added Leshy, professor emeritus at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco.
Frictions over countries
The Department of the Interior administers approximately one-fifth of the country’s land area with a mandate that extends from conservation and recreation to natural resource extraction and fulfilling treaty obligations with Native American tribes.
Most of these countries are in the West, where friction with private landowners and state officials is common and has sometimes culminated in violent confrontations with right-wing groups that reject federal jurisdiction.
If confirmed, Burgum will face a pending U.S. Supreme Court action from Utah that seeks to assert state power over Interior Department lands. North Dakota’s attorney general has supported the lawsuit, but Burgum’s office declined to say whether he supports Utah’s claims.
Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to dismiss the Utah lawsuit. They said Utah agreed to give up its rights to the lands in question in 1894 when it became a state.
Trump’s narrow focus on fossil fuels is a repeat of his 2016 campaign — albeit without coal mining, a collapsing industry he failed to revive in his first term. Trump has repeatedly praised oil as “liquid gold” during his campaign this year and has omitted almost any mention of coal.
About 26% of U.S. oil comes from federal lands and offshore waters controlled by the Interior Department. Production continues to reach record levels under President Joe Biden, despite Trump’s claims that the Democrat was hampering drilling.
But industry representatives and their Republican allies say volumes could be increased further. They want Burgum and the Interior Department to increase oil and gas sales from federal lands, in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska.
The oil industry also hopes that the Trump administration’s efficiency initiative led by billionaire Elon Musk can dramatically reduce environmental assessments.
The Biden administration reduced the frequency and size of lease sales, and restored environmental regulations that had been weakened under Trump. The Democrat promised further restrictions on drilling as a candidate in 2020 to help fight global warming, but he cut a deal for the 2022 climate bill that would require a halt to offshore oil and gas sales before renewable energy leases can be sold.
“Oil and gas generate billions of dollars in revenue, but you don’t get that if you don’t have leasing,” said Erik Milito of the National Ocean Industries Association, which represents offshore industries including oil and wind.
Trump has vowed to halt offshore wind energy projects. But Milito said he was hopeful that with Burgum it would be “the green light for everything, not just oil and gas.”
Conservation, drilling and grazing
It is unclear whether Burgum will revive some of the most controversial steps the agency took during Trump’s first term, including relocating senior officials from Washington, D.C., dismantling parts of the Endangered Species Act and reducing the size of two national monuments in Utah designated as those of former President Barack Obama.
Officials under Biden have spent much of the past four years trying to undo Trump’s moves. They restored Utah’s monuments and rescinded numerous Trump rules. Sales of onshore oil and gas leases plummeted — from more than a million acres sold annually under Trump and other previous administrations to just 37,115 acres last year — while many wind and solar projects moved forward.
Energy leases take years to develop, and oil companies control millions of acres that remain untouched.
The Biden administration also emphasized the importance of conservation in decisions about public lands, passing a rule that brought it more in line with oil and gas development. They proposed withdrawing parcels of land in six states from possible future mining to protect a struggling bird species, the greater sage grouse.
North Dakota is among the Republican states that questioned the Biden administration’s public ground rule. The states said in a June lawsuit that officials acting to prevent climate change have turned laws intended to ease development into policies that hinder drilling, livestock grazing and other uses.
North Dakota’s oil production has grown dramatically over the past two decades, thanks in large part to better drilling techniques. Burgum has been an industry champion and last year signed a repeal of the state’s oil tax trigger – a price-based tax increase, industry leaders supported its elimination.
Burgum’s office declined an interview request.
In a statement after his appointment, Burgum reiterated Trump’s call for US “energy dominance” in the global market. The 68-year-old governor also said the Interior position provided an opportunity to improve government relations with developers, tribes, landowners and outdoor enthusiasts “with an emphasis on maximizing the responsible use of our natural resources with environmental stewardship for the benefit of Americans. people.”
Under current Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the agency placed more emphasis on working with tribes, including their own energy projects. Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna tribe in New Mexico, also launched an initiative to solve criminal cases involving missing and murdered indigenous people and helped lead a nationwide reckoning over abuses at federal Indian boarding schools that culminated in a formal public apology from Biden. .
Burgum has worked with tribes in his state, including on oil development. Badlands Conservation Alliance director Shannon Straight in Bismarck, North Dakota, said Burgum is also a strong supporter of North Dakota tourism and outdoor activities such as hunting and fishing.
Still, Straight said that hasn’t translated into additional protection of land in the state.
“Theodore Roosevelt had a conservation ethic, and we talk about it and consider that a nice standard to live by,” he said. will only be as good as some additional protective measures.”
Burgum was a cheerleader for the planned Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota.
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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.
