HOUSTON — Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told executives at a high-profile energy industry conference Wednesday that the country’s natural resources are “national assets” that could be used to pay down the national debt.
Burgum, who ran a software business before his political career, said at CERAWeek by S&P Global that the economic opportunity from mineral leasing, oil and gas drilling, cattle grazing and other economic activity on federal lands could far exceed the $36.5 trillion in national debt. If the Interior Department was a stand-alone company, Burgum said, it would have the “largest balance sheet in the world, bar none.”
“One of the things we have to do is unleash America’s balance sheet,” said Burgum, who also chairs the White House National Energy Dominance Council.
Burgum blasted efforts by the Biden administration to conserve federal lands and waters and withdraw them from economic activity in order to protect ecosystems and nearby communities.
