North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, chosen by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Department of the Interior, could end up being one of the most quietly influential members of the Cabinet. He will also have some hard choices to make that could eventually lead to a clash of wills.
Trump’s other Cabinet picks may be Fox television personalities and inexperienced celebrity nominees, but Burgum is a smart, pragmatic businessman and two-term governor. And the Interior Department is so massive that it has jokingly been called “The Department of Everything Else.” It controls 500 million acres of federal land, 700 million acres of underground mineral rights and 1.7 billion acres of ocean. It oversees US Fish and Wildlife, the US Geological Survey, as well as the Bureau of Indian Affairs — not to mention the country’s many national parks, monuments and wildlife refuges.
Unlike previous Interior secretaries, Burgum will also serve as Trump’s new “energy czar,” leading a National Energy Council that will have a singular ability to cross agency and department lines to fast-track energy projects. The czar role also will give Burgum a seat on the powerful National Security Council.
Burgum and Trump first got to know one another as rivals for the presidency. Burgum’s run was brief and forgettable. When he dropped out of the primary, he switched allegiance to Trump and never looked back. The two wealthy men hit it off; at one point, Burgum was a favorite for Trump’s running mate.
Burgum knows the oil and gas industry. His state is the nation’s third-largest oil producer, and his oil and gas buddies were some of his biggest backers. When he switched to Trump, some of them did too. It was Burgum who helped pull together a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser of top oil and gas execs where Trump asked for $1 billion donations.
His skills and background may make him uniquely capable of delivering on one of Trump’s top goals: unleashing fossil fuel and mineral development on federal land. This is where the clash may come. Burgum is an innovator, but judicious by nature. He shares Trump’s all-in strategy, but should resist Trump’s natural impulse to go too far.
Among the top targets — and biggest losers — could be Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and nearby Superior National Forest. Together they comprise more than 1 million acres of the most pristine wilderness in the country, but hungrily eyed by mining interests for the copper and nickel deposits that lurk below. A 20-year moratorium on mining currently protects the area.
Also at risk are Colorado’s White River National Forest and the buffer zone protecting Chaco Culture Historic National Park in New Mexico from oil and gas extraction. All three were mentioned prominently in Project 2025, the Trump administration blueprint drawn up by the conservative Heritage Foundation. (Trump attempted to distance himself from it during the campaign, but appears to be heeding elements of it now.)
The boost to short-term energy dominance would come with the risk of environmental disaster for some of the most fragile lands and waters in the federal trust. Chris Knopf, executive director of the Friends of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, told me that prospect of copper and nickel mining in or near the BWCAW and Superior Forest “very, very frighting from our perspective. Environmentally, it could do catastrophic damage.”
According to Interior’s own geological survey, about 22% of carbon emissions have been traced to fossil fuels extracted from federal lands. Scientists have said that restricting further oil and gas exploration is critical to minimizing climate change.
Burgum has a rare opportunity to move forward with a broad portfolio of energy projects that take advantage of renewed interest in nuclear power, so-called clean coal technology, cutting-edge wind and solar power and other alternatives. But to succeed, he’ll have to hold the line against foolish chances that could wreck fragile sites and ruin a booming wilderness tourism industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Another area that will require delicate negotiation is the reservation land that is home to hundreds of federally recognized tribes. Originally thought to be fairly worthless (that’s why the tribes got it) the land has instead been found to contain a trove of oil, gas, coal and mineral deposits. American Indian reservations contain nearly 30% of coal reserves west of the Mississippi, half of uranium reserves and a fifth of all known oil and gas reserves.
That could set up a potential clash between tribes and an administration bent on maximizing energy production that will fall to Burgum to navigate. The US government holds reservation lands in trust, and negotiations with sovereign tribes would be needed to tap those resources.
Burgum has the skills do it; as governor of North Dakota, he has been credited with improving tribal relations through tax-sharing agreements and pushing for better law enforcement partnerships with reservations.
Those who know Burgum say he has a curious mind with a technical bent. He works long hours (another trait Trump admires). He prefers a business-like approach; he is no culture warrior. He appears to be the least MAGA of Trump’s appointees, yet has the President-elect’s confidence.
Much will be resting on Burgum’s shoulders in the new administration. Trump considers energy the key to unlock a new economy. Burgum should clear out the obstacles. But he will also need to stand firm on rules that protect against irreparable damage. Some of America’s most treasured sites are depending on it.
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