Earthjustice Statement on Interior Plans to Advance Trump Energy Agenda

Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum issued a series of Secretarial Orders on Feb. 3, directing agency staff to start formulating plans to carry out executive orders issued by the Trump administration on mining and fossil fuel extraction across federal lands. Burgum directed bureaus and offices to submit “action plans” to meet this new energy agenda within 15 days, marking today as the deadline.

These plans, which so far have not been released to the public, will have major implications for how oil-and-gas and mining extraction on federal lands could be reshaped under the new Trump administration. Earthjustice legal experts have also pointed out that a directive was buried in these orders that appears to lay the groundwork for new attacks on national monuments. The executive orders seek to open vast acreage across Western states, Alaska, and ocean waters off U.S. coastlines nationwide to new fossil-fuel extraction and mining.

“These plans amount to a gift to the oil industry, which stands to profit even more from deregulation, from an Interior Secretary with ties to that very industry,” said Andre Segura, Vice President of Litigation at Earthjustice. “But so far, the American people — the rightful owners of these lands — have been kept out of the loop. Interior should immediately disclose these plans and invite public feedback. Nobody asked for unchecked oil and gas development or toxic mining at the expense of our health, climate, and precious lands and waters.”