To: Interested Parties
From: Evergreen Action Deputy Communications Director Seth Nelson
Date: Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Re: Three Key Questions for Doug Burgum at Interior Secretary Confirmation Hearing 

As former Governor Doug Burgum prepares to testify before the Senate for his nomination as Secretary of the Interior, his troubling record of prioritizing fossil fuel corporations over the American people raises serious concerns about his ability to steward public lands fairly, protect communities, and manage the nation’s natural resources.

Doug Burgum’s nomination is about one thing: Big Oil’s interests. From brokering a $1 billion quid-pro-quo fundraising scheme to personally profiting off oil leases, Burgum has shown time and again that his loyalties lie with fossil fuel executives—not the American people. If confirmed, Burgum would turn the Department of Interior into a tool for corporate polluters to exploit public lands and waters, worsening the climate crisis and increasing costs for families across the country. The Senate must hold him accountable and demand answers about whose interests he truly serves.

Here are three key questions for senators to ask Doug Burgum:

Do you support repealing the Inflation Reduction Act, undermining U.S. leadership in clean energy?

You’ve previously praised clean energy as “low-cost” and “reliable,” adding that the U.S. produces it “better than anywhere in the world.” Yet President-elect Trump has vowed to “immediately terminate” the Inflation Reduction Act, a law that has positioned America as a global leader in clean energy by driving hundreds of billions in critical investments, creating more than 400,000 new jobs, and lowering household energy costs nationwide. Given your stated support for low-cost, reliable clean energy, do you support repealing the Inflation Reduction Act and undoing these transformative investments, even as they strengthen our economy and solidify America’s leadership in clean energy?

How will you ensure transparency after brokering a Big Oil quid pro quo at Mar-a-Lago?

During the 2024 election, you brought fossil fuel executives to Mar-a-Lago, where Donald Trump proposed they raise $1 billion for his campaign in exchange for tax breaks and rollbacks of climate regulations. Given your role in brokering this quid pro quo, how will you ensure that the Department of Interior operates transparently and in the public interest rather than acting as a blank check for corporate polluters to rig the system in their favor?

How can the American people trust you to prioritize their needs over the profits of fossil fuel corporations when Big Oil funds your career?

You personally profited from an oil lease on your family’s land with Continental Resources, a fossil fuel giant that’s also spent big backing your campaigns. How can you assure the American people that you’re fighting for them when the same corporations that have funded your political rise stand to benefit directly from Interior Department policies under your leadership?

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