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Ed Markey takes aim at Trump’s Interior Department pick
“We can’t let Big Oil make private profits off our public lands."
Sen. Ed Markey condemned President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to lead the Interior Department, calling attention to his longstanding ties with the oil industry.
“We can’t let Big Oil make private profits off our public lands,” Markey wrote on X. “We should be building a clean energy future—not creating a Cartel Cabinet.”
The Massachusetts senator continued, pledging to do everything possible to protect the planet from powerful oil executives.
“I’ll do everything in my power to block Trump’s flagrant attempts to line the pockets of fossil fuel execs at the expense of our planet,” he wrote.
We can’t let Big Oil make private profits off our public lands. We should be building a clean energy future—not creating a Cartel Cabinet.
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) November 15, 2024
I’ll do everything in my power to block Trump’s flagrant attempts to line the pockets of fossil fuel execs at the expense of our planet. https://t.co/SEiw4tUUfK
Trump gave a nod to Burgum’s nomination at a gala for the America First Policy Institute Thursday evening.
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“I won’t tell you his name…might be something like Burgum,” Trump, who said the formal announcement would be made Friday, said. “Actually, he’s going to head the Department of Interior, and he’s going to be fantastic.”
The U.S. Department of Interior leads the nation’s efforts to steward public lands, increase environmental protections, and foster a relationship with Tribes, according to the department’s website.
Burgum has a close relationship with Harold G. Hamm, the founder of one of the nation’s largest independent oil companies, and the two have been working together on Trump’s transition, The New York Times reported.
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Per the AP:
Burgum led Great Plains Software, which Microsoft acquired for $1.1 billion in 2001. He stayed on as a vice president until 2007. He’s also led other companies in real estate development and venture capital.
Burgum has taken a business-oriented bent as governor of North Dakota, where agriculture and oil are the main industries. He’s pushed income tax cuts, reduced regulations, and changes to animal agriculture laws and higher education governance. Burgum also emphasized a “data-driven” approach to governing, advocated for a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in the state and prioritized engagement with tribal nations.
He has largely resisted wading into social issues, such as anti-LGBTQ measures pushed by members of his own party, vetoing a few such bills in 2021 and 2023. But also in 2023, as he was planning a run for president, he signed a pile of bills opponents said targeted transgender people. They included a ban on gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender kids, sports bans for transgender athletes, and transgender restrictions in schools.
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