‘Exciting chapter’: Interior Sec takes aim at Biden oil lease ban, ‘coercive’ climate policies in Day 1 orders

President Donald Trump’s administration is taking aim at various Biden-era environmental rules and regulations by stripping the energy sector of “coercive” climate policies and oil lease bans, and launching internal investigations into agency actions that “burden” energy development.

Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum, who was sworn-in on Friday, spent his first full day on the job implementing six new orders that reinforce Trump’s agenda and set the tone for the department over the next four years.

The secretary’s orders include examining ways to eliminate “harmful” and “coercive” climate policies, lifting Biden-era bans on oil and gas leases, and conducting a review of the legislation that funded the former administration’s green energy agenda, known as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

“Today marks the beginning of an exciting chapter for the Department of the Interior,” Burgum said in a statement. “We are committed to working collaboratively to unlock America’s full potential in energy dominance and economic development to make life more affordable for every American family while showing the world the power of America’s natural resources and innovation.”

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Then-North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum speaks during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (Al Drago)

In a press release issued on Monday, Burgum announced the department’s first initiatives.

The DOI pledged to expedite the completion of all authorized infrastructure and environmental projects to address the National Energy Emergency, which was declared by Trump on Inauguration Day.

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The department will also conduct a review of all appropriations from the IRA, after former President Joe Biden spent the remaining months of his presidency trying to rapidly dish out funds from the bill to fund green energy projects across the country. 

President Donald Trump arrives at an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (Evan Vucci)

Additionally, the DOI said that for every new regulation issued, the department will eliminate at least 10 existing ones as part of Trump’s “deregulation agenda.”

Burgum also demanded “immediate compliance” with Trump’s overturning of Biden’s oil and gas lease ban, specifically in the Outer Continental Shelf, and said the department will be conducting a review of all agency actions that “potentially burden the development of domestic energy resources.”

The DOI, on Monday, also withdrew a June 2021 Biden administration order that halted oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a coastal plain that the first and second Trump administrations have eyed as an oil and gas resource. 

Former President Joe Biden implemented several environmental regulations during his term. (Kevin Dietsch)

“Together, we will ensure that our policies reflect the needs of our communities, respect tribal sovereignty, and drive innovation that will keep the U.S. at the forefront of energy and environmental leadership,” Burgum said in a statement.

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Climate activist groups, however, have not been supportive of Burgum’s nomination.

“From opening more public lands for extraction to attacking countless protections of lands, water, and wildlife, it’s clear that President Trump is committed to expanding fossil fuels and catering to industry at the expense of our climate, public lands and waters, and wildlife,” Earthjustice, an environmental law group, wrote in opposition to Burgum’s nomination.