Burgum Vows To Unleash American Energy — Now He Just Needs Congress To Do Their Part

WASHINGTON — Interior Secretary Doug Burgum urged Congress on Tuesday to pass a bipartisan permitting bill, one day after the Senate voted to advance it.

“The House should just take the Senate bill and say, hey, if we want to help everybody in America, let’s get this bill passed and passed right now,” Burgum said during a conversation with Daily Caller Editor-in-Chief Amber Duke. The conversation was part of “Daily Caller Live: Permission to Build,” an event the outlet hosted.

Burgum called the Senate’s Monday action a “historic vote” and said that the bill could be the most consequential piece of legislation in 20 years. He said that it would reshape “an entire industry that was built around stopping building stuff in America,” which he called “a real detriment to American competitiveness.”

The Senate voted 73-25 Monday evening to advance the bill, according to the Senate Press Gallery. The bill would speed permits for pipelines, mines and power plants, and it would still need to pass the Senate and the House and receive President Donald Trump’s signature to become law.

Citing economic projections, Burgum said that the bill could add half a percentage point to three-quarters of a point to GDP growth each year.

“Hopefully, the House can get the job done,” he said.

Asked about a dispute between Trump and Senate Democrats over wind projects, Burgum said that “the bill is largely technology independent.”

“In some ways, the negotiations are over. The bill is the bill,” he said.

Asked about the biggest obstacle to building more natural gas pipelines, Burgum said that Congress should pass the permitting bill. Stopping pipelines and transmission lines has become “not just an art form, it’s become a giant business model,” he said.

Burgum said that passing the bill would bring certainty, “and the certainty moves capital.” He said that trillions of dollars in committed capital is “hung up in the courts.”

“We have to be a country that can build great things and take care of the environment at the same time,” Burgum said.

Burgum also said that Interior staff in Carlsbad, New Mexico, told him they had to use 14 different IT systems to complete a single drilling permit.

Asked about voters’ concerns over who pays for the power that data centers use, Burgum again pointed to the bill.

“I would say support the permitting bill because in the permitting bill is the ratepayer protection plan, which the White House advanced,” he said. Burgum described data centers as “manufacturing sites” and said, “We’re manufacturing intelligence.”

Under the revised bill, agencies would get deadlines to decide on permit applications once environmental reviews are done. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission would also write rules meant to make data centers and other large computing users bear the cost of grid infrastructure built to serve them, the text shows.

Burgum closed by saying that people are being told to be afraid of the bill.

“They can still sue and they can still complain. And the company still has to follow the environmental regulations,” he said. “Why are we celebrating when we’re stopping projects?”

Republican Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Mike Lee of Utah negotiated the package with Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico. Trump urged senators Sunday to pass it before Democrats take over Congress.

Burgum’s conversation followed two panels. Chris Johnson, president of the American Energy Leadership Institute, and Conner Brace, a principal at the consulting firm Boundary Stone Partners, spoke on one moderated by Daily Caller Senior Editor Will Upton.

“This is a real test for Democrats,” Johnson said, noting that nearly all of the 25 senators who voted against advancing the bill were Democrats. Brace called the vote a good result and “step one.”

An earlier panel featured Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and Ted Ellis, deputy director of energy and environment policy at the America First Policy Institute. Daily Caller White House correspondent Ashley Brasfield moderated that discussion.

“I think the main thing is a shot clock,” Lieberman said, comparing permit deadlines to the 24-second clock in professional basketball.

“We really need to seize the moment for permitting reform right now,” Ellis said.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, opposes the current version of the permitting bill and has argued that House Democrats have not had enough say, Bloomberg reported.

Democrats won the House and Senate in decisive fashion during the Nov. 3 midterms, which observers have dubbed a “blue tsunami.” The new Congress will take office in early January 2027.

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