Statement on nomination of Gov. Doug Burgum for secretary of the interior

WASHINGTON D.C. (November 15, 2024)- President-elect Donald Trump will reportedly nominate North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum to lead the Department of the Interior during his second presidential term.

Burgum, a longtime friend to fossil fuel interests, helped pull off the infamous April 2024 Mar-a-Lago fundraiser in which Trump reportedly asked oil and gas executives to give his campaign $1 billion in return for rolling back environmental rules.

In response to today's news, The Wilderness Society President David Seabrook made the following statement: 

"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. 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.

Gov. Burgum's home state of North Dakota celebrates a proud outdoors tradition, including the legacy of former Republican President Teddy Roosevelt and his namesake national park. There and across the nation, conservation of public lands is a popular and non-partisan cause. We intend to uphold those values over the next four years and defend against any attempts to undermine them."

Burgum has spent years working to undermine common-sense environmental and public health safeguards like the National Environmental Policy Act; fought against efforts to reduce waste from venting and flaring of methane at gas drilling sites; and was part of a group of governors who opposed the goal of protecting 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. Under Burgum's leadership, North Dakota recently filed an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit that seeks the "disposal" of 18 million acres of U.S. public lands.

Over the last four years, President Biden and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland built a historic conservation legacy. The Biden administration acted to protect the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil and gas drilling; established or expanded national monument status for millions of acres of cultural and natural sites; defended the watershed of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from toxic mining; and finalized a decades-overdue rule that requires the Bureau of Land Management to take a balanced approach in managing its public lands. Under the Trump administration, all these accomplishments and countless others will be at risk.

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