The Senate confirms Doug Burgum as interior secretary

The Senate confirmed Doug Burgum As interior secretary Thursday evening after President Donald Trump has typed North Dakota to direct the ambitions of the republican administration to Stimulate the production of fossil fuels.

The vote was 79-18. More than half of the Senate Democrats joined the 53 Republicans to vote for Burgum.

Burgum, 68, is an entrepreneur from the Ultra-Riche software industry who came from a small agricultural community in Northern Dakota, where he worked in his family’s cereal elevator.

He served Two terms as governor of the State -rich state And launched a presidential campaign in 2023, but abandoned months later and quickly approved Trump.

Trump also chose Burgum to preside over a new National Energy Council This is responsible for reaching American “energy domination”. He would have a seat on the National Security Council – A first for the secretary in the interior.

Its Trump directive is to easier facilitate energy companies to type the resources of fossil fuels, including public land. This has raised alarms among environmentalists and certain Democrats as greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels cook the planet.

Burgum impatiently helped the energy industry during his governor’s time, while he also took advantage of the lease of family land to the oil companies, according to Records obtained by the Associated Press.

During its confirmation audience, Burgum said that the United States can use energy development as a leverage to promote peace and reduce consumer costs.

He raised concerns about the reliability of renewable energy sources promoted under former President Joe Biden, and said that the United States had to produce more electricity from sources such as coal and nuclear that can work constantly.

Democrats in response accused the Trump administration of having abandoned an energy policy “everything above” to promote fossil fuels.

“They said the wind was dead in offshore. They try to do as much as possible to create the request for coal, for fossil gas, “said Hawaii Democratic Senator Brian Shatz, during a Thursday speech.

Wyoming senator John Barrasso, the second Republican in a rank in the Senate, said Burgum would rightly prioritize energy innovation in relation to regulations.

“He will take the action to unlock our land for oil and for gas production,” said Barrasso. He added that more than 600,000 acres of land in Wyoming had been approved for energy production but were not proposed for development by Biden administration.

The United States currently produces No more crude oil That any nation in history, according to the Energy Information Administration. In recent decades, more profitable technology has led to drilling booms in states such as New Mexico, Texas and Dakota from the North, where large expanses of rural agricultural land has been industrialized by oil companies and gas.

Booms have reported billions of dollars in tax revenue to state and federal governments. But the burn of these fuels also unleashes immense volumes of carbon dioxide which, according to scientists, warm the planet.

The interior department has jurisdiction over half a billion acres of federal land and large offshore areas. These areas produce about a quarter of American oil per year.

The interior secretary also oversees the National Park Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management and other sub -archs.

Burgum succeeds Deb Haaland, who under Biden has greatly reduced sales of oil and gas and has promoted solar and wind projects on federal lands.

Trump has made energy development a centerpiece of his first mandate and again promises to abolish restrictions on industry that aim to protect the environment and public health.

Burgum, during its audience earlier this month before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, suggested to legislators that carbon dioxide of fossil fuels could be captured to neutralize their contribution to global warming.

Carbon capture skeptical Let’s say that technology is not tested on a large scale and allows the fossil fuels industry to continue largely unchanged, even if climate change becomes more and more urgent.

During Haaland’s mandate in the Interior Department, officials also reversed the measures taken during Trump’s first mandate which weakened protections for species in danger while facilitating private promoters to pursue projects on public land.

The Congress Republicans said they were planning to seek changes to the rules on endangered species again and that they want Burgum to help.

Burgum says that federal land can be used for many purposes, including leisure, logging and oil and gas production that can raise local savings.

“All federal land acres is not a national park or a wild zone,” he told legislators.