
Washington, D.C. — Today, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a confirmation hearing for Doug Burgum, a former North Dakota Governor who was picked by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Interior Department shortly after the November election, due to his deep connections with the oil and gas industry. Burgum is expected to be formally nominated for the role after the inauguration on January 20.
Below is a statement from Chris Hill, Chief Executive Officer of the Conservation Lands Foundation, in response to today’s hearing of Interior Secretary Nominee Burgum:
“Today’s hearing for President-elect Trump’s nominee for Interior Secretary started with an attack by Chairman Mike Lee to once again re-visit undoing protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah, which remain extremely popular with Utahns. The hearing also featured attacks on management planning processes, like the Rock Springs (Wyoming) Resource Management Plan recently released by the Bureau of Land Management, which include public participation that helps develop the blueprint for balancing multiple-uses of the land. Although Mr. Burgum did not make any commitments to particular actions, he did commit to looking into these issues.
“We encourage the Interior Secretary nominee to learn from the mistakes of his predecessors during the first Trump Administration, and lean into the public consultation process he highlighted several times during the hearing. His predecessors underestimated how highly regarded and important public lands–including National Monuments–are to the overwhelming majority of American people.
“Across the country and political parties, Americans value our beautiful, vast, and diverse natural landscapes, and expect the officials charged with caring for them to ensure public lands are here for all of us now and for the generations to come. “We expect Mr. Burgum to honor their rights and keep America’s remaining public lands in the public’s hands, ensure that the Bureau of Land Management is properly funded to manage them, and protect the health of our natural resources.
“As the only national nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting, restoring and expanding the National Conservation Lands system, managed by the Bureau of Land Management, we are especially curious to see how Mr. Burgum, hailing from a state with minimal BLM-managed lands and a pro-oil and gas background, plans to balance the agency’s multiple-use mission that includes safeguarding natural resources and the public’s access.
“America’s remaining public lands are essential sources of our clean water and air and an important bedrock of the outdoor recreation and tourism industry for many gateway and rural communities in the American West. Without the public’s access to their public lands, the economies of these communities will collapse.
“If confirmed as Interior Secretary, we will hold Mr. Burgum to the conservation and outdoor recreation values he has expressed to hold dear and work to ensure the National Conservation Lands receive the respect, care, and funding they deserve, as well as to seek ways to balance our nation’s energy needs with the preservation of our water, wildlife and ways of life.”
####

Leave a comment
1 reaction
-
Conservation Lands Foundation published this page in Latest News 2025-01-16 15:07:46 -0700