North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum strolled into his new role as President Donald Trump’s Interior Secretary on Thursday when the Senate confirmed him with a 79-18 vote.
Burgum, who briefly ran for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, had a relatively smooth path to being confirmed, advancing out the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee with just two votes opposing him: Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI). Wyden authored the renewable energy tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act passed under President Joe Biden.
“I cannot support these nominees who will carry out Trump’s policies that throw out America’s greatest advantages,” Wyden said last week.
Burgum has previously expressed support for President Trump’s energy policy, which will aim to “expand oil and gas development and roll back environmental protections enacted under the Biden administration,” per the Hill. During his confirmation hearing, Burgum said in regards to Trump’s agenda: “We live in a time of tremendous abundance, and we can access that abundance by prioritizing innovation over regulation.”
“Unlike Trump, Burgum has acknowledged the existence of climate change and as governor set ambitious targets of making North Dakota carbon-neutral. However, in his confirmation hearing he also suggested he would fast-track natural gas and coal development on federal lands to power artificial intelligence data centers,” noted the Hill.
During his confirmation hearing, Burgum also stressed that coal is a vital piece of American national security.
“We are in an energy crisis in our country, and the first place is actually related to electricity,” Burgum said. “Electricity is at the brink; our grid is at a point where it could go completely unstable. We could be just months away from having skyrocketing prices for Americans.”
Citing what he called the artificial intelligence “arms race,” Burgum noted that wind and solar alone will not be enough.
“And, of course, as we talked about in the AI arms race, we need electricity for manufacturing,” Bugum said. “And AI is manufacturing intelligence. And if we don’t manufacture more intelligence than our adversaries, it affects every job, every company, in every industry.”
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