Governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota will soon be our next Secretary of the Department of the Interior.
I’m going to support that nomination.
I think he will be confirmed, but until that happens, we always say “if confirmed.”
[If confirmed,] Mr. Burgum will play a critical role in balancing the importance of conserving our wildlife and natural resources, while also assisting in the enhancement of domestic energy production.
We must remember, over the last four years – in other words, under the Biden administration – many of our nation’s federal lands were off limits for any type of use. The excuse was, “for the sake of conservation.”
Though, that’s a broad stroke, the word “conservation.” It wasn’t made clear what was meant.
Many know that I have been a longtime advocate for transparency of the public’s business, because transparency brings accountability.
Mr. Burgum will be expected to be transparent and forthcoming when leading the department, and I expect that he will be, especially when responding to letters from members of Congress.
If confirmed, Mr. Burgum will oversee several bureaus and agencies that all work together supporting the Interior Department’s mission of protecting, of managing and of honoring our nation’s natural resources and lands.
On the topic of our country’s resources – the U.S. has ample [resources] for energy production and generation.
President Trump, [after] winning the election, has made clear that’s a top priority for him.
The President has created a Special Council on Energy, and Mr. Burgum will be chairing that council.
I happen to be a believer, as I’m sure Mr. Burgum is, in what you call an “all-of-the-above” strategy on energy.
An all-of-the-above strategy really means just that – emphasis on what we’ve got energy from, fossil fuels, and that’s declining in use, but is still going to be around for a long, long time; it means all of the alternative energy that we can create; it means conservation, and not necessarily conservation promoted by government, but individual conservation; and of course nuclear, and nuclear brings to our attention a whole new generation of ways to produce energy.
That’s all-the-above.
Of course, in order to accomplish that, we ought to cut back on Biden-era regulations.
These regulations seem to be very opaque and, consequently, we [should] forge a fiscally sound path forward.
I believe that Mr. Burgum understands the need to support an all-of-the-above approach to energy policy given his leadership on that issue as governor of the state of North Dakota.
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