{"id":98984,"date":"2025-01-16T10:31:44","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T15:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=98984"},"modified":"2025-01-16T10:43:55","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T15:43:55","slug":"state-and-tribal-relations-in-north-dakota-have-not-always-been-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2025\/01\/16\/state-and-tribal-relations-in-north-dakota-have-not-always-been-great\/","title":{"rendered":"‘State and tribal relations in North Dakota have not always been great’"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Doug<\/a>
Doug Burgum, then serving as governor of North Dakota, attends a meeting with tribal leaders on November 13, 2024. Photo: Gov. Doug Burgum<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n
‘State and tribal relations in North Dakota have not always been great’<\/div>\r\n
Doug Burgum tapped to lead Department of the Interior<\/div>\r\n
Thursday, January 16, 2025<\/div>\r\n
Indianz.Com<\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe following is the written statement of Doug Burgum to be Secretary of the Interior at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources<\/a> on January 16, 2025. [PDF<\/a>]<\/EM>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n \r\nGood morning! I want to begin with gratitude to you, Chairman Lee, and to\r\nyou, Senator Heinrich, for your leadership on this committee.

<\/p>\r\nA special thank you to my friends, Senator Hoeven and Senator Cramer, for\r\ntheir incredible service to North Dakota and their kind words of support.\r\nAnd I\u2019m deeply grateful for the support of all my friends, family, and my\r\namazing and courageous wife, former First Lady Kathryn, who is joining us\r\nhere today.

<\/p>\r\nIt\u2019s an honor to have been nominated by President Trump to serve as the 55th\r\nSecretary of the Interior.

<\/p>\r\nI grew up in Arthur, North Dakota. Population of about 400 — if you counted\r\neveryone in the Good Samaritan Home. My father was a World War II Naval\r\nofficer who fought in the Pacific. Dad died when I was freshman in high\r\nschool, and Mom went back to work in higher education. I was blessed to\r\nlearn from them about service, leadership, sacrifice and a love for the\r\noutdoors.

<\/p>\r\nGrowing up I worked at our family\u2019s grain elevator. Every job I had through\r\ncollege was one that required showering at the end of the day — not the\r\nbeginning. This included paying my way through North Dakota State\r\nUniversity by working as a chimney sweep.

<\/p>\r\nAfter grad school at Stanford, I was working in Chicago when I saw my first\r\nApple computer. That led me to literally \u201cbet the farm\u201d on a tiny software\r\nstartup in Fargo called Great Plains.

<\/p>\r\nWith a dream, some mistakes, and hard-working team members, we grew into\r\na global public company with 2000 team members serving 140,000\r\nbusinesses in over 100 countries across the world.

<\/p>\r\nI spent my entire professional career in the private sector until I was elected\r\nGovernor in 2016. For the last 8 years, I have been blessed with the privilege of\r\nserving the citizens of the great state of North Dakota.

<\/p>\r\nMy time as Governor has been valuable preparation for the role of Secretary\r\nof the Interior, as our state and my duties put me in contact with many of the\r\nbureaus inside the Department.

<\/p>\r\nIn North Dakota, we share geography with 5 sovereign tribal nations. State and\r\ntribal relations in North Dakota have not always been great. But the current\r\npartnership is historically strong because we prioritized tribal engagement\r\nthrough mutual respect, open communication, collaboration, and a sincere\r\nwillingness to listen. I am grateful for many tribal nations in and outside of\r\nNorth Dakota for expressing their support for my nomination.

<\/p>\r\nAs Governor, I served as Chairman of the North Dakota Land Board, which\r\nmanages our land and minerals to yield a return for a state endowment fund\r\nthat significantly funds public education. I chaired the North Dakota Industrial\r\nCommission, which oversees 16 agencies related to energy research, the\r\nstate\u2019s geologic resources, energy production, and transmission. The\r\nGovernor also serves as Chair of the State Water commission, overseeing\r\nbillions of dollars of water resources and projects.

<\/p>\r\nNorth Dakota is blessed with omnipresent natural beauty. Including the\r\nrugged majesty that is the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, home to TR\u2019s\r\nElkhorn Ranch, which is considered the cradle of modern conservation.\r\nWe have the beautiful badlands — which are \u201csignificantly badder\u201d than South\r\nDakota\u2019s Badlands, great prairies, world-renowned agriculture, amazing\r\nhunting, fishing, four season outdoor recreation, and much, much more.

<\/p>\r\nIn North Dakota, we created a prosperous economy by sustainably developing\r\nour natural resources with respect for our land and wildlife while having\r\namong the cleanest air and water in the country.

<\/p>\r\nDuring our tenure, North Dakota experienced among the lowest\r\nunemployment in the nation and top real GDP growth. Demographically, we\r\nwent from one of the oldest states to the youngest. And we attracted record\r\nlevels of talent and investment capital.

<\/p>\r\nOur success was underpinned by our understanding that we live in a time of\r\ntremendous abundance, and we can access that abundance by prioritizing\r\nINNOVATION over regulation!

<\/p>\r\nIf given the opportunity to serve as Secretary of the Interior, I will bring those\r\nexperiences and lessons learned to the leadership of the tens of thousands of\r\ndedicated professionals within Interior.

<\/p>\r\nWhich brings us to President Trump\u2019s vision for a vibrant future that we can\r\nachieve together. The American people clearly placed their confidence in\r\nPresident Trump to achieve Energy Dominance.

<\/p>\r\nEnergy Dominance is the foundation of historic American prosperity,\r\naffordability for American families, and unrivaled national security.

<\/p>\r\nToday, America produces energy cleaner, smarter and safer than anywhere in\r\nthe world. When energy production is restricted in America, it doesn\u2019t reduce\r\ndemand, it just shifts production to countries like Russia, Venezuela, and Iran\r\n\u2013 whose autocratic leaders don\u2019t care about the environment.

<\/p>\r\nPresident Trump\u2019s Energy Dominance vision will end wars abroad and make\r\nlife more affordable for every family by driving down inflation. President Trump\r\nwill achieve these goals while championing clean air, clean water, and our\r\nbeautiful land.

<\/p>\r\nNext to TR National Park, we\u2019re building the Teddy Roosvelt Presidential\r\nLibrary and Museum to honor the leader who advised America to \u201cspeak softly\r\nand carry a big stick.\u201d

<\/p>\r\nIn our time, President Trump\u2019s Energy Dominance can be America\u2019s \u201cbig stick\u201d\r\nthat is leveraged to achieve historic prosperity and world peace.

<\/p>\r\nThe Department of the Interior — in cooperation with U.S. Congress, this\r\ncommittee, and the states \u2013 will play a pivotal role in achieving the outcomes\r\nto make the world safer and America even better for our children,\r\ngrandchildren, and generations to come.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nI thank you for inviting me here today and look forward to our discussion.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n

Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Notice<\/div>\r\nHearing to Consider the Nomination of the Honorable Doug Burgum to be Secretary of the Interior<\/a> (January 14, 2025)\r\n

<\/P>\r\n

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North Dakota Monitor: Tribes support call for new national monument<\/a> (December 3, 2024)<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Read the written statement of Doug Burgum, a former governor of North Dakota, to be Secretary of the Interior.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":98988,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20,1,14],"tags":[5366,118,75,5748,302,85,91,220],"class_list":["post-98984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indian-trust","category-national","category-politics","tag-119th","tag-doi","tag-donald-trump","tag-doug-burgum","tag-north-dakota","tag-republicans","tag-senate","tag-sovereignty","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/16\/dougburgum-10.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-pKw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98984"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98996,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98984\/revisions\/98996"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}