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Donald Trump is considering tapping North Dakota’s Doug Burgum to be his new “energy tsar”, which would give the oil state’s governor sweeping power to slash environmental regulations and boost US fossil fuels output.
Burgum, a billionaire businessman who ran in the Republican primary race this year before endorsing Trump, is the president-elect’s preferred candidate for the role, said people familiar with the discussions. Former energy secretary Dan Brouillette is also a contender.
Trump is weighing the reappointment of officials from his first term to senior energy roles as he looks to battle-hardened veterans to overhaul rules on everything from vehicle emissions to oil and gas leasing.
The new energy tsar role and its powers are not yet finalised, but people familiar with the plans said it would co-ordinate Trump’s deregulatory agenda across a patchwork of agencies including the Department of Energy, Department of Interior, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and Environmental Protection Agency.
The energy tsar role would likely replace the “climate tsar” — or National Climate Advisor — established by Joe Biden’s White House, underlining the stark shift in emphasis by the new administration.
Burgum, who has led North Dakota since 2016, is an oil industry favourite to fill the new position. The state’s Bakken oilfield led the shale revolution that transformed the US into the world’s biggest producer over the past decade. It is the country’s third largest producer of crude after Texas and New Mexico.
Among other Trump administration veterans being considered for a return to Washington are former interior secretary David Bernhardt and former EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler, said people familiar with the thinking of Trump’s transition team.
In a sign Trump is prioritising experience in his second term, Brouillette, Bernhardt and Wheeler are all seen as contenders to return to their previous positions.
Wheeler declined to comment. The other candidates did not respond to requests for comment. Karoline Leavitt, spokesperson for the Trump-Vance transition team said the president-elect would make cabinet decisions “soon” and the appointments “will be announced when they are made”.
The president-elect has vowed to gut at least 10 regulations across the federal government for every new one created and said he would appoint Tesla chief executive Elon Musk to helm a new efficiency commission “tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms”.
Rules governing climate and energy are set to bear the brunt of the regulatory bonfire.
Trump has railed against the EPA’s car emissions rules, calling them “the insane electric vehicle mandate”, and is also likely to remove curbs on oil and gas drilling on federal lands.
Cynthia Lummis, US senator for Wyoming, and Katherine MacGregor, former deputy secretary of the interior, are both also seen as candidates to lead the interior department. Paul Dabbar, a tech executive and former DoE official, is also seen as a contender for energy secretary.
Lummis, MacGregor and Dabbar also did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the roles, but a spokesperson for the senator said she would work to help Trump roll back Biden’s “egregious public lands policies”.
Burgum was previously considered a top contender to be Trump’s vice-president and was with Trump at his final rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Monday and on election night at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
Brouillette last week stepped down as head of the Edison Electric Institute, the leading US utility lobby group “to broaden my focus to the overarching issues facing our global energy landscape”.
Additional reporting by Amanda Chu and Jamie Smyth in New York