President-elect Donald Trump has begun to select the members of his new government, nominating new cabinet members across several departments. The two choices that are most likely to have an impact on U.S. energy are Doug Burgum, who Trump chose as Interior Secretary, and Chris Wright, who he selected as Energy Secretary.
Doug Burgum, Secretary of Interior
Background
Doug Burgum is completing his second term as Governor of oil and gas superpower
North Dakota. He grew up in the state and left only to complete a Master of Business Administration degree at Stanford. Upon his return to North Dakota, Burgum established a tech firm that went on to employ thousands of Dakotans before it was acquired by Microsoft in 1997.
As governor, Burgum focused on lowering taxes and reducing unemployment. He also established the Office of Community Development and Rural Prosperity within the state Commerce Department, aimed at improving the lives of rural populations across the state. He has been a hardliner on several subjects, including gender issues and abortion.
In 2016, he ran with an anti-establishment campaign message that attracted Trump’s attention. After initially running for president with a long-shot campaign last year, Burgum endorsed Trump for president in January. This led to wide speculation that Trump would offer him a position in his new government.
In terms of energy, as Governor, Burgum set the surprising target to make North Dakota – the home of the Bakken oil field and one of the country’s largest coal producers – carbon-neutral by 2030. He aimed to do this not by expanding the state’s renewable energy capacity but by developing carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. In 2019, he signed a bill creating a tax incentive for CCS.
Interior Secretary Outlook
Since his nomination for Interior Secretary, Burgum has faced backlash from environmental advocacy groups concerned about his support for the use of federal lands for oil and gas drilling. Trump announced in November that Burgum would also chair the newly formed National Energy Council to “oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE” and focus on “the battle for AI superiority”.
Travis Fisher, director of energy and environmental policy studies at the think tank Cato, explained of Burgum’s role, “You have a new admin that, as a candidate — a president-elect now — says ‘drill, baby, drill’ and calls oil ‘liquid gold… So, what Governor Burgum’s role, I think, would be at Interior is to make those campaign promises a reality.”
The conservation policy organization Center for Western Priorities stated, “Doug Burgum comes from an oil state, but North Dakota is not a public lands state. His cozy relationship with oil billionaires may endear him to Donald Trump, but he has no experience that qualifies him to oversee the management of 20% of America’s lands.”
Chris Wright, Energy Secretary
Experience in the Energy Sector
Chris Wright, Trump’s pick to head the Department of Energy, has a long history in the oil and gas industry. Wright is the founder, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Liberty Energy, an oilfield services firm based in Denver. He also served as CEO at Pinnacle and was the Chairman of shale gas producer Stroud Energy before selling to shale pioneer Range Resources in 2006. He has no prior political experience.
Throughout his career he has been a staunch defender of fossil fuel use and, as Energy Secretary, is expected to focus on maximizing the production of oil and gas to meet rising U.S. energy demand. In a 2023 interview, Wright said, “The world runs on oil and gas, and we need that.” He also stressed that calls to transition away from fossil fuels in a decade was an “absurd time frame.” Wright added, “I don’t think you’ll see meaningful change in our hydrocarbon system in the next three decades.”
In addition to oil and gas, Wright also supports nuclear power, sitting on the board of a modular nuclear reactor company. He had often talked about the significant potential of the clean energy source.
Wright has often criticized the Democratic Party’s attempt to combat global warming and referred to climate activists as alarmist. In a video Wright shared on his LinkedIn last year, he said, “There is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition, either.”
An Expected Shift in Policy
If confirmed by the Senate, Wright will replace Jennifer Granholm, who has supported a diverse renewable energy mix throughout her term as Energy Secretary. Wright would also be a member of Trump’s Council of National Energy.
In reference to Trump’s anticipated U-turn on the Biden administration’s ambitious climate policy and withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, Granholm was recently reported saying, “We are now building all of these projects. We’re building batteries for electric vehicles, we’re building the vehicles, we’re building the offshore wind turbines, we’re building the solar panels. And all of those are factories. And those factories are in districts of members of Congress.” Granholm added, “It would be political malpractice to undo those opportunities when people are just now getting hired.”
If approved by the Senate, both Burgum and Wright are expected to help put Trump’s pro-fossil fuel pledges into action. They will likely support a policy of increased domestic oil and gas production and could strive to undo many of the advances made in renewable energy under Biden’s far-reaching climate policy – the Inflation Reduction Act.
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