Doug Burgum
Doug Burgum is the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, confirmed in January 2025. He previously served as Governor of North Dakota from 2016 to 2024 and was a software entrepreneur before entering politics. He oversees federal lands, national parks, and natural resource policy, and has pursued expanded energy production on public lands.
2026 Events (11)
Interior Secretary Burgum announced arch groundbreaking without final D.C. planning approval or congressional authorization
On September 3, 2026, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced that the National Park Service would begin excavation work within two weeks at Memorial Circle, near Arlington National Cemetery, for President Trump's proposed 250-foot "triumphal arch," even though the project has only preliminary approval from the National Capital Planning Commission, an incomplete FAA review, and no congressional authorization, which opponents say federal law requires for a commemorative work. Three Vietnam War veterans and an architectural historian, represented by Public Citizen, sued to block the project and sought an emergency restraining order. Government lawyers then told the court the imminent work was limited archaeological survey testing rather than construction, and a federal judge ordered the administration to give 48 hours' notice before any further work at the site.
Interior Secretary Burgum and White House official Haley threatened to cut federal support for Smithsonian over museum's Interpretive Plan
On August 28, 2026, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and White House Domestic Policy Council Director Vince Haley sent a letter to the Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents warning that federal agencies could no longer, "in good conscience," continue loaning artifacts, assisting with procurement, or making discretionary grants to the Smithsonian unless the National Museum of American History revised its Interpretive Plan. The letter called the plan's direction to tie exhibits to topics including race and identity, gender and sexuality, and immigration an "ideological agenda," and requested an in-person meeting with the Board of Regents; the Smithsonian declined to comment.
Interior paid RWE $1.22 billion to terminate its New York, California, and Louisiana offshore wind leases
On August 6, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced a $1.22 billion settlement with German energy company RWE under which RWE voluntarily relinquished its offshore wind leases in the New York Bight and off the coasts of California and Louisiana. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum welcomed the deal, and RWE said it would redirect $900 million into a stake in a Louisiana LNG terminal and $300 million into natural gas turbine reservations. The settlement is the fifth Trump administration lease-termination deal with an offshore wind developer, bringing total federal buyout payments to nearly $4 billion.
Interior paid Duke Energy $129 million to terminate its Carolina Long Bay offshore wind lease
On June 29, 2026, the Department of the Interior announced a settlement agreement with Duke Energy under which Duke voluntarily terminated its offshore wind lease in the Carolina Long Bay area — 22 miles off southeastern North Carolina — in exchange for $129 million in federal compensation. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the deal advances President Trump's energy agenda, and Duke Energy said it would redirect the funds toward nuclear and natural gas generation. The agreement is the fourth offshore wind lease termination brokered by the Trump administration, bringing total federal wind lease buyout payments to more than $2.75 billion.
Interior Department proposed eliminating 90% of public comment windows for oil and gas leasing on federal lands
On June 24, 2026, the Interior Department published a proposed rule in the Federal Register that would eliminate the 30-day pre-leasing public comment period and the 30-day NEPA environmental review comment period for oil and gas leasing on Bureau of Land Management federal lands, while cutting the protest period from 30 to 10 days — reducing total public input windows from 90 days to 10. The proposal would also lower cleanup bonds by more than 90% and eliminate BLM's requirement to assess resource conflicts before leasing. Environmental advocates said the changes violate the National Environmental Policy Act and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which require public participation in federal land management by statute.
Interior agreed to pay Invenergy $765 million from the Treasury Judgment Fund to cancel four offshore wind leases
On June 17, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced an agreement to pay Invenergy $765 million to terminate four offshore wind leases held by its affiliates: the 2-gigawatt Morro Bay project off central California, plus leases in the New York Bight and Gulf of Maine. Interior framed the buyout as a settlement payable from the Treasury Judgment Fund, and Invenergy agreed to redirect the payout toward natural gas plants in five states and geothermal projects. The deal brought the administration's total offshore wind lease buyouts to eight, costing more than $2.5 billion.
Interior Department severed funding partnership with Cultural Landscape Foundation after it sued over Kennedy Center, criticized ballroom
On June 10, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Interior under Secretary Doug Burgum terminated its cooperative agreement with the Cultural Landscape Foundation as part of a broader cut of 43 outside partnerships and more than $4 million in funding. Interior specifically cited the foundation's lawsuit over changes at the Kennedy Center, its criticism of White House ballroom construction, and its "Landslide 2026" initiative tracking threats to historic sites as reasons its partnership no longer aligned with the department's mission.
Interior Secretary Burgum unveils a Tom Fazio redesign of D.C.'s East Potomac Golf Links
On May 14, 2026, U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum publicly unveiled, via his official @SecretaryBurgum account, a Tom Fazio design for the federally led renovation of East Potomac Golf Links, a century-old District of Columbia municipal course. Fazio Golf Design is the firm of architect Tom Fazio, who designed President Donald Trump's Trump National Golf Club Bedminster and has worked on multiple other Trump courses; Trump and Burgum will jointly oversee the East Potomac redesign. The arrangement follows the December 2025 termination by the Trump administration of the National Links Trust's 50-year lease covering East Potomac, Langston, and Rock Creek and a May 2026 National Park Service deal placing the East Potomac renovation under an NPS-led group of public and private partners rather than the NLT.
Interior/NPS database flags hundreds of park signs on slavery, civil rights, climate for removal
An internal Department of the Interior and National Park Service database, authenticated by The Washington Post with current federal employees, flags several hundred signs, exhibits, films, and books across national park sites for removal or revision under President Trump's order to scrub "partisan ideology" and content that "disparages" Americans. Flagged materials include exhibits on slavery, the civil rights movement, Japanese-American internment, racial violence, and climate science — among them at least 30 signs at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Some materials had already been removed when the database was reported on March 2, 2026, while the department said final decisions on others had not been made.
National Park Service removed the George Washington slavery exhibit at Philadelphia's President's House Site
On January 22, 2026, the National Park Service removed 34 educational panels documenting the nine people George Washington enslaved while living at the President's House in Philadelphia, implementing President Trump's March 2025 executive order directing federal cultural sites to remove content that "inappropriately disparages" Americans. The city of Philadelphia sued, and a federal judge ordered the exhibit restored in February 2026, but the Third Circuit reversed that injunction in June, and NPS installed replacement panels in July that critics say soften Washington's record on slavery; Philadelphia is now seeking a rehearing of the appellate ruling.
Burgum established U.S. Wildland Fire Service by secretarial order, overriding Congress's refusal to fund it
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed Secretary's Order 3448 on January 12, 2026, formally establishing the U.S. Wildland Fire Service by consolidating wildfire management programs from four Interior Department agencies without congressional authorization. Congress had explicitly declined to fund the agency, zeroing out the administration's $6.5 billion request and directing that FY2026 Interior appropriations continue under the longstanding practice of separate agency programs. The new agency also mandated a full suppression wildfire policy requiring all fires under its management to be extinguished as quickly as possible, reviving a decades-old approach that wildfire scientists say worsens long-term fire risk.
2025 Events (5)
Interior Department terminated National Links Trust's D.C. golf-course lease on disputed grounds, clearing path for a Trump-favored redesign
On December 30, 2025, the Interior Department's Solicitor sent National Links Trust (NLT) a letter terminating its 50-year lease to manage Washington, D.C.'s three public golf courses — East Potomac, Langston, and Rock Creek — citing unmet capital-improvement obligations and roughly $8.8 million in unpaid rent. NLT disputed the stated basis, saying it had fully complied with the lease and invested more than $8.5 million in the courses since 2020. The termination followed Interior leadership privately pitching President Trump on converting East Potomac into a high-end tournament course, and Trump's own longtime architect touring the site and visiting the White House weeks before the letter issued.
Interior Department issued memo barring all bureaus from confirming deaths or injuries on public lands
In December 2025, the Department of the Interior issued an internal memo directing all bureaus and offices — including the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — not to confirm deaths, serious injuries, or "emotionally sensitive incidents" on federal public lands. The memo, obtained by The Washington Post and reported June 24, 2026, states "Interior shall not confirm a death" and routes all fatality information through the department's Office of Communications. Former NPS officials said the change reversed longstanding practice of quickly informing the public about fatal incidents to prevent further harm.
Interior Dept. signed Izembek refuge land exchange with King Cove Corp. without completing statutory reviews required for the road swap
On October 21, 2025, U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed a land exchange agreement conveying 490 acres of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to the King Cove Corporation, an Alaska Native village corporation, in return for roughly 1,739 acres of corporation-owned land added to the refuge, to enable construction of a road through the refuge connecting King Cove to the Cold Bay airport. A federal judge later ruled the exchange violated the Endangered Species Act, the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act, and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act because Interior had not completed the statutory analysis those laws require before authorizing a road through a wildlife refuge.
Interior Secretary Burgum ordered personal approval of every wind and solar permit on federal land
On July 17, 2025, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered that he personally approve every solar and wind energy project on federal lands and waters, an "elevated review" covering proposed leases, rights of way, construction and operational plans, grants, and biological opinions. Interior said the order corrected "preferential treatment" for renewables, while a coalition of wind and solar developers sued, alleging it was designed to place wind and solar into "second-class status" relative to fossil fuels. A federal judge in Massachusetts later found the order likely violated federal law and preliminarily enjoined its enforcement.
Interior Secretary Burgum ordered National Park Service to review and remove public content deemed to disparage Americans
On May 20, 2025, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued Secretary's Order 3431, implementing President Trump's Executive Order 14253 and directing the National Park Service and other Interior land-management bureaus to review all public-facing interpretive content and remove anything that "inappropriately disparages Americans" or, for natural features, emphasizes matters unrelated to their beauty and grandeur. Under the order, the Park Service removed or flagged signs, exhibits, and materials on slavery, immigration, and climate change at sites nationwide, with an initial content-removal deadline of September 17, 2025. Interior also posted signage inviting visitors to report content they viewed as negative about past or living Americans.
2023 Events (8)
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed HB1474, codifying a binary "sex" definition that bars LGBTQ+ discrimination claims
On May 8, 2023, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum signed House Bill 1474, which the state's 68th Legislative Assembly passed to amend the North Dakota Century Code's master definitions section with binary statutory definitions of "female," "male," and "sex." The law defines sex by "nonambiguous sex organs, chromosomes, or endogenous hormone profiles at birth" and conforms four other 2023 bills to the same wording. Advocates said the definitions bar sexual-orientation and gender-identity discrimination claims in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
North Dakota enacted HB 1522 restricting transgender students' restroom use and barring schools from concealing their status from parents
On May 8, 2023, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed House Bill 1522, which requires public school boards to prohibit students from using restrooms that do not coincide with their "biological sex," allowing separate accommodations only with parental approval. The law also bars schools and teachers from adopting policy on a student's transgender status or withholding that status from the student's parents, and prohibits government entities from requiring or forbidding employees' use of colleagues' preferred pronouns. The measure passed the Legislative Assembly with an emergency clause and took effect immediately.
North Dakota Gov. Burgum signed HB1297, barring transgender residents from changing birth-certificate gender markers
On May 8, 2023, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum signed HB1297, enacted by the state's 68th Legislative Assembly, prohibiting amendment of the sex designation on a birth record "due to a gender identity change." The law permits corrections only for scrivener errors, chromosomal or genetic testing showing an error, or a certified anatomical change, and statutorily defines "sex" as the biological state at birth. It was one of three anti-LGBTQ+ measures Burgum signed the same period targeting transgender North Dakotans.
North Dakota Gov. Burgum signed HB 1473, restricting transgender people from restrooms and showers in state prisons and college dormitories
On April 25, 2023, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed House Bill 1473, enacting new Century Code sections requiring restrooms and shower rooms in state correctional facilities—including the penitentiary and the youth correctional center—and in dormitories controlled by the state board of higher education to be designated for exclusive use by one sex. The law bars transgender inmates and college students from multi-occupancy restrooms and showers that match their gender identity, permitting deviation only as a "reasonable accommodation" at the discretion of facility or dormitory staff.
North Dakota Gov. Burgum signed HB 1254, a felony ban on gender-affirming care for minors
On April 19, 2023, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum signed House Bill 1254, enacting a ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. The law makes it a class B felony for providers to perform gender-affirming surgery on minors and a class A misdemeanor to prescribe puberty blockers or hormone therapy for that purpose. It contains an exception for minors with a medically verifiable intersex condition but none for transgender minors.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed HB 1489, barring transgender women from women's college sports teams
On April 11, 2023, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum signed HB 1489, requiring public and competing private colleges to designate athletic teams as male, female, or coed and barring female-designated teams to students defined as "the male sex" at birth. The measure, passed by the 68th Legislative Assembly (House 75-18, Senate 40-7), excludes transgender women from women's collegiate athletics and creates a private right of action to enforce the separation. Burgum signed it in Bismarck alongside a K-12 companion bill, HB 1249.
North Dakota Gov. Burgum signed HB 1249, barring transgender girls from female K-12 school sports teams
On April 11, 2023, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed House Bill 1249, enacting Chapter 15.1-39 of the North Dakota Century Code and requiring public and eligible nonpublic K-12 schools to designate athletic teams as male, female, or coed by a birth-based definition of "sex." The law bars students of the male sex — including transgender girls — from female-designated teams, prohibits adverse action against schools that maintain separate female teams, and creates a private civil cause of action with a two-year limit for damages and attorney's fees. The Legislative Assembly passed the measure 78-15 in the House and 38-9 in the Senate.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed HB1139, defining birth-record sex as biological and fixed at birth
On April 7, 2023, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed HB1139, amending the state's Health Statistics Act to define "sex" as the biological state of being female or male based on a person's sex organs, chromosomes, and hormone profiles at birth. The law requires every birth record to designate a child as male or female and bars a "not yet determined" entry unless sex is genuinely undeterminable on that biological basis. The measure passed 81-11 in the House and 42-5 in the Senate, codifying a binary conception of sex fixed at birth into North Dakota's vital-records law.