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Burgum’s Strategy: U.S. Energy Expansion and National Security

Confirmation of Doug Burgum as Secretary of the Interior may lead to a shift in America’s energy plans centred on increased local production and tapping of space resources for defence.

Doug Burgum Former Governor of North Dakota
Doug Burgum Former Governor of North Dakota.


United States: Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Interior, Doug Burgum, is set to inform the legislators in his confirmation hearing on Thursday that he will aggressively advance Trump’s agenda of exploiting the country’s outer space resources as he considers it mandatory for national security.

The comments hint at a steep policy change that President Joe Biden sought for years to curb oil and gas leasing by limiting lease sales and pausing leasing activities in extensive regions of federal offshore waters to address climate change, as reported by Reuters.

Energy Production and National Security

“Today, America produces energy cleaner, smarter, and safer than anywhere in the world. When energy production is restricted in America, it doesn’t reduce demand, it just shifts production to countries like Russia, Venezuela, and Iran – whose autocratic leaders don’t care about the environment,” Burgum will tell lawmakers, according to his prepared remarks.

He will opine that increased power generation can reduce consumer prices and could be achieved in the most efficient way without compromising on the quality of air or water.

The Interior Department manages millions of acres of federal lands and offshore areas from the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico, from which it has sold off lease tracts for drilling, contributing almost a quarter of the total oil and gas production in the U.S.

North Dakota’s Energy Influence

The United States is already the world’s largest producer of oil and gas due to a long-term drilling campaign mostly on private land in Texas and New Mexico, facilitated by technological innovation and skyrocketing global demand caused by Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Burgum, who was recently the governor of North Dakota – one of the oil producer states – is also being mooted to lead a new national energy council to co-ordinate policies to increase the U.S. energy production for Trump’s coming administration after the 20th of Jan, as reported by Reuters.

Crude oil reserves and production in North Dakota rank third in the United States after Texas and New Mexico, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

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