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 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.
Donald Trump eyes Doug Burgum as new ‘energy tsar’ to slash regulations
American Buddhist Net 