Trump Picks Burgum For Interior Secretary

• Nov. 14, 2024, 9:12 p.m. ET

President-elect Donald J. Trump has tapped Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota to lead the Interior Department, leading the new administration’s plans to open federal lands and waters to oil and gas drilling.

Governor Burgum, 68, has longstanding ties to fossil fuel companies and acted as a liaison between the Trump campaign and the oil executives who have donated heavily to it. The governor is particularly close to Harold G. Hamm, the billionaire founder and chairman of Continental Resources, one of the country’s largest independent oil companies, who has hosted fund-raisers and donated nearly $5 million to Mr. Trump since 2023.

Mr. Trump made the announcement during a gala for the America First Policy Institute being held at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Mr. Burgum was in attendance.

“I won’t tell you his name, it might be something like Burgum,” Mr. Trump said, before telling the crowd, “Actually he’s going to head the Department of Interior, and he’s going to be fantastic.”

North Dakota sits over part of the Bakken Formation, which has emerged as a major source of oil in the United States thanks to hydraulic fracturing, a horizontal drilling technique that took off in 2008 and made it possible to extract substantial amounts of oil that had been inaccessible through traditional drilling.

Mr. Burgum has been a cheerleader for drilling, a posture that fits in well with the mantra of “Drill, baby, drill,” which Mr. Trump repeatedly uses to describe his energy policy.

Scientists have said that the United States and other major economies must stop developing new oil and gas projects to avert the most catastrophic effects of global warming. The burning of oil, gas and coal is the main driver of climate change. The Biden administration has tried to limit some drilling on public lands and in federal waters, particularly in fragile wildernessatiu

Mr. Trump has heaped praise on Mr. Burgum, telling a crowd in May that the governor “probably knows more about energy than anybody I know,” hinting Mr. Burgum would have a prominent role in his administration.