United States President-elect Donald Trump has announced that North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum will be his interior secretary.
“He’s going to head the Department of Interior, and it’s going to be fantastic,” a tuxedo-wearing Trump said at a gala at his Mar-a-Lago Florida retreat on Thursday, November 14, 2024.
Trump added that he would make an official announcement on Friday, November 15.
68-year-old Burgum, a wealthy former software company executive, has portrayed himself as a traditional, business-minded conservative.
He ran against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination before quitting and becoming a loyal Trump supporter, appearing at fundraisers and advocating for Trump on television.
At the gala, which featured X owner Elon Musk, actor Sylvester Stallone, and members of his incoming administration, Trump praised his latest cabinet picks and made some of his longest remarks since his presidential election victory speech.
“Nobody knew we were going to win it the way we won it,” the president-elect said.
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He teased Musk about his ongoing post-election stay at Mar-a-Lago. Musk is involved in some of Trump’s meetings at the oceanfront property.
“I can’t get him out of here. He just loves this place. And I like having him here,” said Trump.
At the end of the event, Musk mounted the stage.
“The public has given us a mandate that could not be more clear. The people have spoken, the people want change,” he said.
Since his victory, Trump has chosen several loyalists with little experience for key cabinet positions, stunning some allies and making clear that he is serious about reshaping – and in some cases testing – America’s institutions.
The Interior Secretary will oversee policies guiding the use of 500 million acres (202.3 million hectares) of federal and tribal land, a fifth of the nation’s surface area.
Biden made the agency central to his climate change agenda by boosting the permitting of offshore wind and solar energy projects and creating a program to lease lands for conservation in the same way they are for development, Reuters reported.
Burgum is expected to be tasked with increasing oil, gas and mineral production on federal lands and waters.
The job would likely involve ratcheting up new leasing in the Gulf of Mexico and on federal lands in oil-producing states like Wyoming and New Mexico.
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