What to Know About Doug Burgum, Trump's Pick for Interior Secretary

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United States President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate two-term North Dakota governor Doug Burgum to lead the U.S. Department of the Interior, the office that oversees a huge swath of public lands.

Burgum, 68, is a close ally of the fossil fuel industry, but during his time in politics he has also championed outdoor recreation and technology aimed at reducing carbon emissions.

On Thursday, November 14, Trump told attendees at a gala at his Mar-a-Lago club about his intention to nominate Burgum. The news was first reported by the Associated Press.

“I won’t tell you his name—it might be something like Burgum,” Trump told guests on Thursday. Burgum was one of the attendees of the event. “Actually, he’s going to head the Department of Interior, and he’s going to be fantastic,” Trump continued.

The Interior Department oversees the lion’s share of federal lands—approximately 500 million acres—and manages the agencies National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Fish and Wildlife Service, among others. The agency has a massive impact on open spaces, trails, and campgrounds used for outdoor recreation.

Burgum has a track record of promoting outdoor recreation in his policies as governor. In May he created North Dakorta’s Office of Outdoor Recreation. Alongside the creation of the office, Burgum gave $1.2 million in grants for the building of trails.

“From the sales and service of boats, RVs and ATVs, to hunting and fishing gear, bicycles and skis, outdoor recreation is a cornerstone of our state’s economic well-being,” he said in a release in May.

The Interior Department also decides whether or not to lease public lands out for industrial uses, such as logging, mining, or oil extraction. And Burgum’s nomination signals the Trump Administration’s intentions to pursue its “drill, baby, drill” campaign slogan.

Burgum, who briefly challenged Trump for the Republican nomination, has strong ties to the oil and gas industry. During his 2016 campaign for North Dakota governor, he accepted more than $100,000 in campaign contributions from oil executives. He maintains a close personal and business relationship with Harold G. Hamm, the chairman of Continental Resources and one of the figures responsible for North Dakota’s massive shale-oil industry.

In April, Burgum helped organize a fundraising dinner for Trump with some of the wealthiest oil executives in the country. According to The Washington Post, Burgum told attendees that Trump would stop President Biden’s “attack” on the oil and gas industry.

Burgum, himself a billionaire, has also been a vocal critic of the policies of President Joe Biden to raise barriers around the extraction industry. In 2023 he lambasted the Biden Administration’s plans to raise the cost of oil and gas leases with the Bureau of Land Management. “By raising costs for oil and gas producers who want to develop minerals on federal lands, BLM will drive away producers and drive up energy costs for consumers,” he said in a release. “We should be selling energy to our friends and allies instead of buying them from our adversaries.”

But Burgum has also touted decarbonization technology, and in 2021 he set a target for North Dakota to hit carbon neutrality by 2030. Burgum’s strategy for this goal has been pursuing carbon capture-methods—specifically pumping greenhouse gasses into the state via a massive pipeline, and then storing the gasses in abandoned oil-and-gas wells to keep them from entering the atmosphere.

Groups championing the environment and public lands reacted to Burgum’s nomination on Friday morning. In a statement provided to Outside, The Wilderness Trust said it would work with the incoming administration to acquire and protect vulnerable lands.

“The Wilderness Land Trust has successfully added to designated wilderness through direct action under every administration since we were founded 32 years ago, including during President Trump’s first term during which we transferred over 4,000 acres totaling $8.5M in value to be added to wilderness and public lands,” a spokesman said in a release. “Just as we always have, the Trust will work with Mr. Burgum and the incoming administration.”

Other groups were less diplomatic. In a statement provided to Outside, David Seabrook, interim president of environmental group the Wilderness Society, said that Bergum “has spent years undermining common-sense environmental and public health safeguards like the National Environmental Policy Act.”

“Public lands are beloved and vitally important to people in this country. The first Trump administration treated these places like they’re meant to be dug up, drilled or sold off for profit,” Seabrook said in the statement. “Gov. Burgum’s long track record of pushing for unchecked fossil fuel development sends a loud signal about which path they will take this time around.”

If approved, Burgum would replaced interior secretary Deb Haaland, who was chosen by President Biden in 2020.

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