US Interior Chief Pitches Resources as Assets Worth Trillions

March 12, 2025, 1:19 PM UTC

Donald Trump’s Interior Secretary is making the case that the oil, gas and minerals in the vast federal lands and waters he is charged with overseeing should be viewed as part of “America’s balance sheet” worth trillions of dollars.

Secretary Doug Burgum plans to tell thousands of oil and gas executives gathered for an energy conference that the sale of federal timber, grazing rights, mineral production and oil and gas development could be used to pay down the nation’s $36 trillion in national debt and create jobs.

US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum talks about the need to keep coal plants open, keeping gas prices down, the impact of tariffs and making it easier to expand energy production. He speaks to Bloomberg’s Alix Steel at CERAWeek in Houston. Source: Bloomberg

“If Interior was a company it would have the ...

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