Senate Approves Burgum as Interior Secretary

The Senate confirmed the former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum as Interior Secretary on Thursday, by a vote of 79-18, in which the majority of Senate Democrats joined every Republican member.

Burgum, a one-time candidate for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination-turned-visible Trump campaign surrogate, has been among the president’s least controversial nominees. Last week, he was approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in a near-unanimous vote. Only Sens. Ron Wyden (a Democrat from Oregon), and Mazie Hiroho (a Democrat from Hawaii) voted against the nomination.

Wyden, who drafted the Inflation Reduction Act’s renewable energy tax credit, has cited President Trump’s opposition against the cuts to oppose Burgum and Energy Secretary nominee Chris Wright. Wright is unlikely to encounter significant Senate opposition.

Wyden stated last week that he could not support the nominees because they would implement Trump’s policies, which throw away America’s greatest assets.

Burgum, as Interior Secretary, will be responsible for environmental policy and public lands. Trump promised on the campaign trail, and in his first actions as president, to expand oil and natural gas development and roll back environmental protections that were enacted by the Biden Administration. The former governor expressed support for these priorities in remarks made at his confirmation hearing. He said, “We are living in an era of great abundance and we can take advantage of that abundance by prioritizing regulation over innovation.”

The Senate confirmed Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin with a vote of 56-42.

Burgum, unlike Trump, has acknowledged climate change. As governor, Burgum set ambitious goals to make North Dakota carbon neutral. In his confirmation hearing, Burgum also said he would speed up the development of coal and natural gas on federal land to power artificial intelligence data centers.

Burgum said that despite coal’s high greenhouse gas emissions this could be offset through the use of carbon capturing, a relatively new technology that was central to Burgum’s plan to make Colorado carbon neutral.