Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued six orders aligning Department of the Interior procedures with Trump’s policies.
Newly seated Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued six Department of the Interior (DOI) orders on Feb. 3, his first official day in office.
The former North Dakota governor was confirmed by the Senate in a
78–18 vote on Jan. 30. His initial actions as secretary align DOI procedures and initiatives with the 200-plus executive actions that President Donald Trump has signed since his Jan. 20 inauguration, including more than 50 related to energy development.
“[The DOI] will immediately identify all emergency and legal authorities available to facilitate the identification, permitting, leasing, development, production, transportation, refining, distribution, exporting, and generation of domestic energy resources and critical minerals” the order reads.
The department—which manages 500 million acres of public lands and 1.7 billion offshore acres—will also “identify all emergency and other legal authorities available to expedite the completion of all authorized and appropriate infrastructure, energy, environmental, and natural resources projects,” it states.
Secretary’s Order 3418 aligns the DOI with the provisions outlined in Trump’s “Unleashing American Energy” order by “immediately terminating all actions taken” under revoked executive orders issued by then-President Joe Biden.
The order “directs a review of all appropriations” from 2022’s
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and 2021’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law “to ensure consistency with President Trump’s energy dominance policies.”
Those two bills, along with the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, are the legislative framework of Biden’s “New Green Deal.” They collectively authorize more than 80 new federal regulatory programs and billions of dollars in allocations through 2032.
Burgum’s order also directs the DOI to review mining regulations, encourage energy development on federal lands/waters, and ensure that “a global rule, regulation, or action ... be reported separately from its domestic costs and benefits.”
Secretary’s Order 3419 mandates that the DOI “take immediate steps that will reduce living costs for American families” as laid out under the president’s “Delivering Emergency Price Relief for American Families and Defeating the Cost-of-Living Crisis” executive actions package through a “review of all programs and regulations that are unnecessarily causing higher living costs for hardworking American families to identify and recommend future actions to lower costs.”
Secretary’s Order 3420 “directs immediate compliance” with Trump’s executive order revoking the Biden administration’s “wrongful withdrawals of the Outer Continental Shelf from oil and gas leasing,” including two December 2024 Biden executive orders that placed restrictions on offshore drilling across 625 million acres off the East and West coasts.
“[The] ban has been unbanned,” Burgum’s order reads.
Secretary’s Order 3421 directs the DOI to support Trump’s deregulation agenda as outlined in his “Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation” executive order. Under Burgum’s order, the DOI “will eliminate at least 10 existing regulations for every new one introduced and ensure that the costs of new regulations are offset by removing the costs of previous ones.”
Secretary’s Order 3422 directs that the department “take all necessary steps” to implement the president’s “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential” executive order that rescinds “all regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, and any other similar agency actions ... promulgated, issued, or adopted between Jan. 20, 2021, and Jan. 20, 2025,” essentially erasing 70 Biden-era regulatory actions related to Alaska.
“Today marks the beginning of an exciting chapter,” 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.”
