The Senate has confirmed Doug Burgum as the cabinet secretary who will oversee American energy production – something that President Donald Trump has promised to bring back.
With broad bipartisan support, the Senate voted 79-18 to confirm Burgum, who becomes the 55th U.S. Secretary of the Interior.
But it will be about a lot more than domestic energy production. Burgum has promised that some alternate energy initiatives will be shuttered during his tenure in the office.
One of Burgum’s first policy goals will be to dismantle Interior’s support for offshore wind power development. Trump ordered Interior to halt any new lease sales that would allow wind companies to develop projects on public land and to stop any new permitting for wind power development.
Burgum will also get a seat on the National Security Council per an executive order Trump signed on his first day in office. Trump had earlier tapped Burgum to lead a National Energy Council, but plans for that body remain murky as bureaucratic infighting took over its organization and even its possible name.
The department will play a large role in Trump’s domestic agenda. As a candidate in 2024, Trump routinely blasted the Biden administration’s bureaucratic red tape and threats against oil and gas companies. Over the last four years, oil and gas production was up, but the U.S. was a net importer rather than an exporter, and the Biden administration made it increasingly difficult to open new oil and gas leases in the United States.
Burgum ran in 2024 as an alternative to Trump, but failed to gain traction. However, his support of Trump after the primary and background in business made him an attractive cabinet pick for the incoming Trump administration.
