Se descubrió el pastel del regreso de la plataforma de “energy dominance” of the incoming Trump Administration with leadership nominations to the U.S. Cabinet departments and federal agencies.
- North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum is nominated to become the U.S. Secretary of Interior and be the head of a new National Energy Council.
- South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is nominated to become the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security.
- Former New York Representative Lee Zeldin is nominated to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright is nominated to become the U.S. Secretary of Energy
U.S. Cabinet department and federal agency leadership nominees must be confirmed by the Senate of the 119th Congress which commences on Jan 3, 2025. The process and timeline the Senate will follow to pursue confirmations is to be decided. The U.S. Department of Interior is charged with administering nation-to-nation affairs with tribes, natural resource management, and cultural heritage management. Here’s our take on how U.S. Secretary of Interior Nominee Doug Burgum will approach climate and conservation solutions proposed in the Latino Climate Justice Framework.
“Teddy Roosevelt encouraged America to speak softly and carry a big stick. Energy dominance will be the big stick that President Trump will carry.”
-Doug Burgum
The good: Burgum is on record for support of nature-based carbon sequestration agricultural practices (like cover cropping and no-till farming) and teaching indigenous history in public schools. He is not a climate denier and his eyes are open to the significant economic growth spurred on by the use of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles in investing. As governor he created the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, established the Office of Outdoor Recreation, and set a goal for the state to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. Governor Burgum in his crusade to remove government regulations, rules and procedures streamlined distribution of Clean Water State Revolving Fund Dollars and increased citizen access to groundwater monitoring data.
Latines in the U.S. are responsible for $3.2 trillion of the national GDP–if Governor Burgum is to succeed as Secretary of Interior he will do well to cherish the $563.7 billion dollar outdoor recreation industry that depends on intact, healthy conservation lands like national park units, national monuments, wilderness areas, urban parks, and more outdoor places where our Latine recreate with families, celebrate our traditions, and remember our heritage on public lands. Burgum can be pressured to ensure that the irreplaceable landscapes where we hunt, fish, camp, and visit serve our communities and the more-than-human world. He has to be convinced that the economic benefits of enjoying and nurturing public lands outweigh the short-term economic activity generated by energy and mineral extraction.
The bad: Governor Burgum’s record on land, water, and energy policy is tinted by the delusion of expensive and dangerous carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies. The North Dakota “Carbon Neutral by 2030 Challenge” is framed backed by Burgum’s approach to deregulate agencies, and provide tax cuts for coal and oil industries for outcomes such as:
- Providing carbon credits to ranchers using carbon-friendly grazing practices to sell to polluting companies. We are in full support of ranching practices that enhance ecological services, but the health benefits are lost when polluters take the credit.
- Greenlighting lignite coal extraction and burning with use of NOx and SOx emission reduction technology. Use of captured carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery practices and maximizing oil extraction. Less pollution is not the solution we need now, which is no pollution. Net carbon reductions goals cannot be met when coal or oil burns.
- Capture and storage of atmospheric carbon into the ground. Construction of CCUS infrastructure irreparably harms landscape health. When storage infrastructure fails, people and animals die, and become injured.
With ensuring that North Dakota’s energy portfolio be dependent on CCS, carbon credits, and fracking may indicate that Burgum may support ongoing initiatives related to marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) if appointed to lead the Department of Interior. mCDR, also referred to as marine geoengineering, is a subset of ocean-based technologies that aims to artificially alter the ocean’s natural cycles to remove and store carbon from the atmosphere in the ocean. There is insufficient evidence to claim these technologies are safe and free of unintended environmental consequences. mCDR technology regulation continues to trail behind federally-funded research and venture capitalist investments.
His deregulatory history points to a likely pursuit to gut the Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and other essential historic laws that guarantee the public understands the impacts of projects on the environment before they proceed.
Burgum believes that there is an attack on liquid fuels and we can expect his approach to explaining all energy sources to focus on biofuels, ethanol, liquified natural gas, and oil–each of which play a major role in our climate doom. Burgum signed a letter to President Biden calling for more energy lease sales, to expand critical mineral mining and processing; to expedite approval of federal drilling permits; and to undo methane emissions and air quality standards. We will more than ever pay for this with failing national infrastructure damaged by climate disaster and high healthcare costs. Our efforts to conserve land and water health must show that community health and the economic benefits of conservation lands outweigh short-lived and dangerous energy delusions that will sacrifice public land and water. Burgum should be pushed to pursue a true balance of energy production, grazing, recreation, and heritage protection by working with the U.S. Department of Energy to maximize community rooftop solar network development.
The first action Governor Burgum took as North Dakota’s leader was to speak out in support of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Amid the force of excessive violence, oppression and suppression of frontline community members protesting the on site pipeline construction, Burgum signed a bill increasing penalties for pipeline protesting. Military oppression tactics used by police led to the death of Tortuguita when camping in defense of the Weelaunee Forest in Atlanta, GA, and dozens of activists being charged with domestic terrorism. It will be more important than ever to provide resources and infrastructure to protect those who stand before the frontline of environmental destruction.
The ugly: Burgum will serve as lead of a new National Energy Council. In a statement made by Donald Trump, the council, “will consist of all Departments and Agencies involved in the permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation, transportation, of ALL forms of American Energy.” This Council’s domain is in contradiction with Trump’s pledge to rescind historic clean energy investments made in the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and put responsible offshore wind development on the chopping block. The head of the National Energy Council does not require Senate confirmation.
However, considering other Trump nominees, such as Chris Wright, the CEO of Denver-based fracking company Liberty Energy and pick for secretary of the Department of Energy, it is likely that these neutral to beneficiary initiatives may not be priorities when considering the president-elect's campaign, "Drill, Baby, Drill.”
The Department of Interior has two energy-related offices: the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. DOI administers about 500 million acres of public land and 1.7 billion acres of the outer continental shelf.
In the last four years, the Biden administration has focused on expanding renewable energy projects on federal land and water. This has coincided with setting goals of 30 GW for offshore wind by 2030 and 15 GW for floating offshore wind by 2035, respectively. Additionally, the goal of 25 gigawatts of renewable energy on public lands by 2025 has a potential to be met by the approved and the 41 utility-scale pending projects. Table 1 demonstrates potential capacity of approved and pending projects being overseen by both the BLM and BOEM. Under a Trump administration that is prioritizing reliance on fossil fuels, it is unclear what role renewable projects may play on federal land and water.
Table 1 BLM and BOEM Approved and Pending Renewable Energy Project Capacity
| Agency | Approved Projects Capacity | Projects Pending Approval Capacity |
| BLM | 30 GWa | 21.1 GWa |
| BOEM | At least 15 GWa | At least 4.6 GWb |
a: Howland, E. (2024, Nov. 18th). “Trump taps North Dakota Gov. Burgum to run Interior, new national energy council.” Dive Brief. Utility Dive.
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/trump-burgum-interior-energy-council-blm-boem-offshore-wind/733163/.
b: USBOEM (2024, Nov. 13th). “BOEM Announces Draft Environmental Review of Potential Mitigation of Future Development of Wind Lease Areas Offshore California.” News Room.
The opportunity: Governor Burgum as the next U.S. Secretary of Interior must ensure that all U.S. residents directly benefit from the ways that our energy infrastructure will change. He should ensure that the Bureau of Land Management stands to benefit from restoration and mitigation leasing established through the Public Lands Rule, train a professional workforce that will develop clean energy utilities by calling on President Trump to enhance the American Climate Corps, convince the State of Utah to drop its vastly unsupported land seizure lawsuit, and allow professionals in abandoned oil well plugging to pursue this critical mission. More than $3.1 billion was invested in five states with significant Latino population sizes in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for projects to plug abandoned oil wells, remediate brownfield sites, purify water, prevent flooding and other projects providing jobs that workers are proud of, according to an analysis by GreenLatinos. A U.S Department of Energy report found that Latino and Hispanic workers held 32% of total new energy jobs created in 2023; overall jobs in clean energy grew by 4.2% in 2023 with major margins of growth in Idaho, Texas and New Mexico. Clean energy jobs accounted for more than half of new jobs in the energy sector and Hispanic and Latino workers filled 33% of new clean energy jobs.
The benefits of federal clean energy investments are represented in the paystubs of workers. Governor Burgum must commit to enhancing this growth, which is growing the fastest in solar and wind energy employment, by putting community rooftop solar and other responsible clean energy developments at the very top of the National Energy Council’s agenda. As Secretary of Interior, he should focus on the long-term, precious and irreplaceable value of places like wilderness areas, national park units, national monuments, and more for the promise of an enduring national heritage that prides outdoor recreation opportunity, American history, and the beauty of land and water, and the sacredness of life.
