Burgum – 45’s pick for Interior – friend or foe?

The Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara (MHA) nations esteemed the recent Cabinet selection by Donald Trump of Governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota for the Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior. MHA currently operates over 3000 oil wells on tribal lands in North Dakota.

Doug Burgum, currently serving his term as Governor, was unavailable for an interview pending approval by an “external party” who will decide if and when Burgum can schedule interviews prior to being installed as the new Secretary of the Interior (SOI) in Jan 2025, according to an associate at the Governor’s office.

Pending notification of a possible interview from the “external party”, There is plenty of information available about Governor Burgum and his policies. Given his propensity for supporting the extraction community, whether petroleum and plastics, liquid petroleum gas (LPG), lithium (Li) mining, uranium mining and yellow cake production for energy and weapons, fracking, or any number of extractive industries, “Drill, Baby, Drill!”, 45’s latest boast was quite possibly Burgum’s baby, or at least a shared passion, according to independent news sources.

MHA tribal leaders are happy with Burgum in the role of SOI because they have an interest in his pet industry. With thousands of oil wells in operation, it is in their best interest to have someone fighting on behalf of the oil industry who is willing to provide extra perks to tribes to keep the oil flowing, or is it really in their best interest?

Tribal sovereignty rests in part on having control over natural resources but I have to wonder if getting a tax share, getting a new clinic, or receiving quicker law enforcement response time is worth the potential destruction to soil, air, water, and wildlife, not to mention the human cost. The 1900s saw a massive shift in economic base with the discovery of oil and the rise of the automobile.

Traditionally, rural agricultural communities and tribes like MHA became less and less dependent on subsistence farming, fishing, hunting and foraging and took full advantage of their own local oil booms – as many people did – as well as switching to big agriculture with the advent of Monsanto seeds and its accompanying pesticides and herbicides, but there is a problem, aside from the obvious lack of carbon neutrality.

According to oil industry analysis, U.S. capacity to refine crude oil into usable products is a rapidly narrowing window of opportunity. As more and more crude oil in the millions of barrels per day (mb/d) traverses cross-country increasing the supply of raw product to refineries, the extra capacity, with which those refineries can process it, becomes less and less.

That gap decreased to about 600,000 b/d in 2023 and is currently at a margin of 300,000 b/d, according to a recent analysis. This is as a result of China requiring less petroleum exported from the U.S. this year, being less dependent on U.S. oil than it was last year. That gap is expected to narrow with less demand for petroleum based products, including plastics, both at home and by countries wanting our exports.

If the DAPL goes online, it will transport 700,000 b/d, which is more than the current capacity of the refineries in Texas where the oil would go. This means one thing: if stakeholders/producers like MHA want to keep benefitting from the “Drill, Baby, Drill!” scheme, there will need to be greater investment – probably to the tune of tax dollars – in refineries, what folks like Burgum would refer to as critical infrastructure.

Herein lies yet another problem: poor communities are already inundated with toxic, unhealthy, noxious, polluting industries at their back door. They want less, not more of the same. This doesn’t even begin to address the effects to wildlife and conservation, so we have to ask this question, at what point is progress no longer progress, but a digression into a world of our creation that no longer benefits, but rather obstructs.

While tribal sovereignty, recently on the upswing, is desirable and necessary, we must consider at what cost and by what means it is achieved. This is an ethical issue, sure, but also an economic one. First, there must be continued oversight by the EPA and Congress to ensure safety compliance for refineries and transportation of hazardous materials (hazmats), not less oversight as suggested by proponents of project 2025 (P25).

Secondly, tribes put themselves in danger by relying too heavily on one or two main sources of income. Diversified income sources provide more resilience. For the MHA this could mean a return to agricultural roots as there is increased demand for organic produce and prepared foods like bakery items, animal-friendly vegan foods, natural herbs, and supplements.

Third, extraction is not necessarily a friend, for example, Li mining can cause health consequences. So can Ur mining, including the storage and transportation of these hazmats and their byproducts. China, for example, is marketing batteries made with sodium (Na), as opposed to Li. Their recent development of the Na+ or sodium ion battery is spreading globally. Tariffs or no tariffs, I’d rather use Na+ batteries in my alternative energy systems. These could be developed and marketed here by tribes for residential alternative (solar and wind) energy storage.

This is what a diverse economic strategy looks like. A true friend and ally to sovereign native nations would not toss them an occasional favor to keep them dependent on fossil fuel production. A true friend would encourage a diverse portfolio of investments – not investments in the status quo, but investments in tribes, in natural resources, and in the sustainability of future generations.

(Contact Aliyah Keuthan at kestraldancing@gmail.com)

The post Burgum – 45’s pick for Interior – friend or foe? first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

Visit Original Source