US president elect Donald Trump has chosen North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum (pictured) to head up the Department of the Interior, which oversees key agencies like the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Approvals from both BSEE and BOEM are crucial in any US offshore wind project, and the BLM oversees the siting of onshore wind and solar projects on federal land.
Burgum is seen as friendly to the oil and gas sector, and comes from a state at the heart of the recent US boom in shale oil and gas extraction.
In the first months as governor of North Dakota, he oversaw the state’s response to the tail-end of protests over a controversial proposed pipeline, the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Burgum will replace Deb Haaland who oversaw the announcement of an ambitious schedule for offshore wind lease auctions, and the approval of 15 GW of offshore wind sites, as well as six separate offshore wind auctions.
Despite his ties to the oil and gas sector, Burgum had also set a goal for North Dakota to become carbon-neutral by 2030, though without issuing any mandates.
Burgum still has to confirmed by the US Senate.