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Here’s what key Trump appointments could mean for public lands and energy development in Western states

The entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, located outside Estes Park, Colorado. The National Park Service is one of the agencies managed by the Department of the Interior.
Maeve Conran
/
Rocky Mountain Community Radio
The entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, located outside Estes Park, Colorado. The National Park Service is one of the agencies managed by the Department of the Interior.

As President-elect Donald Trump continues to announce appointments for key cabinet positions, his administration’s priorities for public lands, extraction, energy, and tribal relations are becoming clearer.

Last week, Trump announced North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum as his pick for Secretary of the Interior. A Republican, Burgum has served as governor since 2016. He briefly ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2023, before dropping out and endorsing Trump.

The Department of the Interior manages natural and cultural resources (like museums, historical sites and structures, and rock images like pictographs and petroglyphs). Bureaus and offices that fall under the agency’s purview include the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Reclamation, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It oversees more than 480 million acres of public lands and 700 million acres of onshore subsurface minerals.

Oil and gas drilling is one of North Dakota’s biggest economic drivers, and Burgum has been a vocal supporter of the fossil fuel industry during his tenure, though most extraction in the state happens on private lands. Only about 4% of North Dakota’s lands are federal lands.

Typically, interior secretaries are appointed from Western states — making Burgum a departure from the norm.

Advocates say Burgum’s appointment indicates a move away from balancing multiple uses—like agriculture, recreation, and conservation—and towards prioritizing extraction.

Aaron Weiss, the deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities, said even though the administration clearly has oil and gas drilling as a priority, it can’t control the whims of the market.

“Oil and gas companies are already sitting on the vast majority of public land that ever will produce oil and gas,” he said. “So there actually may not be that much the Interior Secretary can do to increase the actual numbers of acres leased.”

Even so, Weiss said the administration’s changing priorities could spell bad news for areas that received protection under the Biden administration.

For example, the agency approved a 20-year pause on all mining and drilling in the Thompson Divide in western Colorado — but conservative policy document Project 2025 targets the area.

“That is one of the most pristine areas of Colorado,” he said. “Everyone here agrees there should not be oil and gas leasing there. So to have out-of-staters coming in saying, ‘Nope, we're going to drill on the Thompson Divide anyway…’ That's a huge concern.”

Weiss said Western states should expect renewed attempts from the administration to shrink the size of national monuments — like Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante in Utah.

During Trump’s first term, the DOI moved the BLM’s headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Grand Junction, Colorado. Project 2025 indicates that the agency may be moved again, to another Western state.

Weiss said these moves can throw agencies into turmoil, and long-time employees with institutional knowledge can be forced out for not moving.

In addition to his appointment as Secretary of the Interior, Trump has also tapped Burgum to head a new White House energy council, and he will also have a seat on the National Security Council, according to the Associated Press.

Earlier this week, Trump tapped Chris Wright to be the Secretary of Energy for his second term. He’s the CEO of Denver-based fossil fuels company Liberty Energy, which also provides fracking services.

The Department of Energy was founded in 1977, and oversees efforts to address the nation’s environmental, energy, and nuclear challenges.

In a video he posted to LinkedIn last year, Wright called language around human-caused climate change “deceptive and destructive.”

“There is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition either,” he said at the start of the 12-minute video.

“We have seen no increase in the frequency or intensity of hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts or floods despite endless fear mongering of the media, politicians and activists,” he said. “

That’s despite the scientific consensus that human-caused climate change is a contributor to severe weather events and natural disasters — including the federal government’s own National Climate Assessment.

Aaron Weiss said Wright’s outlook on climate change is a problem because the Department of Energy’s work is so science-based.

“The Energy Department funds the core research that America needs in this energy transition,” he said. “Folks like the scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory here in Golden (Colorado): they are the ones making sure that America leads the world in the energy transition.”

That, Weiss said, can be a problem for national security, and the country’s ability to compete economically as technology evolves.

“So when you talk about someone who denies all of that coming in to run that department, you're really looking at the possibility that America gives up its leadership role on the world stage as the rest of the world is transitioning,” he said.

According to the agency’s website, the DOE is the largest federal sponsor of research in physical sciences. That includes the NREL in Golden and Boulder, labs in Albuquerque and Los Alamos, New Mexico, geothermal research in Utah, and hydrogen research in Wyoming.

Both Burgum and Wright’s appointments must be approved by the Senate — where Republicans will have a narrow majority come January. Trump has floated the possibility of using recess appointments to get some of his more controversial picks over the finish line. The president has the power to temporarily fill vacancies while the Senate is not in session, and the appointee may maintain the position through the end of the following session.

Copyright 2024 Rocky Mountain Community Radio.

This story was shared via Rocky Mountain Community Radio, a network of public media stations in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico, including KSJD.

Caroline Llanes