HUFFPOST
President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday announced that North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) is his choice to lead the Interior Department, an agency responsible for managing 500 million acres of federal land ― roughly one-fifth of the United States — including 63 national parks.
Trump made the announcement during a gala at his Mar-a-Lago private club in Florida.
“He’s going to head the Department of Interior, and he’s going to be fantastic,” Trump said, adding that he intended to make a formal announcement Friday.
Burgum, a billionaire businessman and two-term governor, hails from a state with little federal land, but it’s a top producer of oil. He briefly ran against Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination but dropped out before the primaries, throwing his support behind the former president.
Trump’s return to the White House promises another four years of unfettered fossil fuel development, and will herald the dismantling of environmental rules and protections….
