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Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum delivered a blistering rebuke of California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday, accusing Newsom of creating a self-inflicted energy crisis as he blames President Donald Trump for his state&#8217;s near-record high gas prices.
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Burgum&#8217;s comments follow months of escalations from Newsom, who has characterized the recent spike in fuel costs as “Donald Trump’s crisis.” Newsom argues that the president’s aggressive foreign policy and military actions in Iran have destabilized global oil markets, sending California’s prices to a staggering $6.15 per gallon this month.
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“California hasn&#8217;t changed anything as it relates to that cost,” Newsom <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XZ2fysBtJk">insisted</a>, claiming that state-level baseline costs have remained static. “The cost at the pump has been for one reason: Donald Trump&#8217;s recklessness as it relates to the war in Iran, period, full stop.” In March, Newsom <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/03/10/governor-newsom-blasts-trump-for-raising-gasoline-prices-on-americans-with-no-plan-and-no-accountability/">dismissed</a> Trump’s “Drill Baby Drill” mantra as a “lie to enrich Big Oil donors,” claiming that American families are paying $1.5 billion more at the pump weekly while corporations “cash in on Trump’s chaos.”
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Burgum took the governor to the woodshed, dismantling Newsom’s narrative by pointing to California’s specific policy choices. Burgum highlighted that California has intentionally isolated itself from the American energy grid, effectively becoming an “energy island.”
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“California is leading in highest energy prices, highest taxes, and out-migration,” Burgum stated. “They’ve blocked every pipeline, they block transmission lines &#8230; and then they’re complaining to this administration about their high energy prices.”
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Burgum noted a startling vulnerability in California’s infrastructure: the state is uniquely dependent on oil passing through the Strait of Hormuz. While the rest of the country has increased domestic energy security, California imports roughly 60% of its oil by ship. Burgum also pointed to the systematic dismantling of California’s refining capacity, noting the state has plummeted from 40 refineries to just six, while Texas continues to expand its capacity.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🚨 HOLY CRAP! Trump Interior Sec. Doug Burgum PUMMELS Gavin Newsom, exposing that California is the only American state to rely on Strait of Hormuz oil — and BLOCKED *every new pipeline*
Yet Gavin blames Donald Trump for his insane gas prices. PATHETIC.
BURGUM: &quot;California was… <a href="https://t.co/BtPXAjA6yi">pic.twitter.com/BtPXAjA6yi</a>
&mdash; Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2053927384940958192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Comparative data underscores the &#8220;California Premium.&#8221; While California gas prices hit $6.15 in May 2026, Texas remains significantly lower at $4.01, and even the leftist bastion of New York sits at $4.58, according to <a href="https://gasprices.aaa.com/">AAA</a>. California’s lowest prices in 2025 were still higher than the highest prices in almost every other state.
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Ultimately, Burgum’s reality check exposes the governor’s rhetoric as a desperate attempt to deflect from decades of radical environmental mandates. While Newsom points fingers at the White House, the data suggests the &#8220;crisis&#8221; is a direct result of California&#8217;s own war on affordable energy.
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By strangling its own production and blocking the very pipelines that would provide relief, Newsom has ensured that Californians pay the highest price for his political agenda — leaving the state to suffer the consequences of a &#8220;condition they created for themselves.&#8221;
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Gavin Newsom/Doug Burgum

Newsom Blames Trump For California’s High Gas Prices. Burgum Takes Him To The Woodshed.

Donald Trump

Doug Burgum

Gas Prices

Gavin Newsom

President Donald Trump praised interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez on Wednesday, saying oil from the South American country &#8220;is beginning to flow&#8221; just two months after U.S. forces captured dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Trump praised Rodríguez, who was tapped by Venezuela&#8217;s ruling party following Maduro&#8217;s capture, as the country increased its oil exports last month. Under American supervision, Venezuela doubled its oil exports in February to a five-month high of 788,000 barrels per day, Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-02/venezuela-s-crude-exports-double-in-february-under-us-oversight">reported</a>.
&#8220;Delcy Rodríguez, who is the President of Venezuela, is doing a great job, and working with U.S. Representatives very well. The Oil is beginning to flow, and the professionalism and dedication between both Countries is a very nice thing to see!&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116172714486213504">wrote</a> on Truth Social.
Trump made the comment while Interior Secretary Doug Burgum met with the Venezuelan leader in Caracas on Wednesday. Representatives from around two dozen mining and mineral companies also joined Burgum and Rodríguez for the meeting, which focused on paving a way for &#8220;capital investment to flow&#8221; into Venezuela, Burgum <a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-us-burgum-rodriguez-trump-minerals-dc9193f2832ad8ceafbfa551f078bfdd">said</a>.
The Interior secretary also leads Trump&#8217;s National Energy Dominance Council, which is tasked with cutting red tape and securing American energy independence. Burgum said on Wednesday that his goal to rejuvenate the American energy sector falls in line with the administration&#8217;s plan for Venezuela.
&#8220;When we are working together in can only mean two things, which is prosperity for the people of Venezuela and for the citizens of the United States, and it also brings peace and stability for the world,&#8221; Burgum said.
The American companies at the meeting &#8220;represent billions of dollars in investment and thousands of dollars in high-paying jobs,&#8221; Burgum added.
After the meeting, Rodríguez signaled that she would push to change Venezuela&#8217;s mining law to allow for more U.S. investment in the industry, the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-us-burgum-rodriguez-trump-minerals-dc9193f2832ad8ceafbfa551f078bfdd">reported</a>. Venezuela&#8217;s commitment to cooperate with the United States shows a remarkable shift in relations since Trump authorized action to remove Maduro from power in Venezuela and bring him to the United States to stand trial on drug trafficking conspiracy charges.
After Trump imposed a complete naval blockade of Venezuela and authorized the U.S. military operation to nab Maduro, the Trump administration began overseeing Venezuela&#8217;s state-run oil industry. The United States is especially benefiting from Venezuela&#8217;s recent bump in oil output, with American oil refiners, such as Chevron, bringing in their biggest oil hauls from Venezuela in seven years, according to Bloomberg.
Part of the Trump administration&#8217;s strategy for overseeing Venezuelan oil sales is to use the sales as “leverage” to push the Venezuelan government toward lasting &#8220;change,&#8221; Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in January.
“If we control the flow of oil, the sales of that oil, and the flow of the cash that comes from those sales, we have large leverage,” he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-to-control-venezuelan-oil-sales-as-leverage-for-change-energy-secretary-says">said</a>.

Donald Trump/Delcy Rodríguez

Trump Praises Maduro’s Replacement As Venezuela Sees Shift In Key Industry

Nicolas Maduro

Trump Administration

Venezuela

Germany-headquartered Siemens Energy announced on Tuesday a $1 billion investment to strengthen the United States’ power infrastructure. The company is set to expand its manufacturing capabilities in the United States, signaling confidence in America as a hub for energy innovation. 
Approximately <a href="https://www.siemens-energy.com/global/en/home/press-releases/siemens-energy-is-investing--1-billion-and-creating-highly-skill.html">one-fourth</a> of the United States’ power generation relies on Siemens Energy technology. With rising demand fueled in part by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence, the company is ramping up production and facilities across nine sites in Mississippi, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, New York, and Texas over the next two years. The investment is expected to create 1,500 highly skilled manufacturing jobs. 
Siemens Energy CEO Christian Bruch credited the Trump Administration for creating “once-in-a-generation growth opportunity” for the resurgence of United States manufacturing and the expansion of artificial intelligence. He noted the administration’s energy policies “supercharged the energy demand which is supporting new investments across the energy sector.” 
Funding from the investment will support a range of projects, including high-voltage switchgear to build out energy grid components in Mississippi, power transformers and gas turbines in North Carolina, gas turbines in Florida, copper production in Alabama, and upgraded facilities in New York and Texas. The move aligns with President Trump’s tariff policies, which incentivize domestic manufacturing.
“This tremendous investment in a critical part of our power grid supply chain underscores President Trump’s success in expanding supply chain access and bringing major manufacturing back to America,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. “We appreciate great partners like Siemens Energy, who proactively partner with the Trump administration for the benefit of the American people, prioritizing critical components to make the United States Energy Dominant.” 
Burgum, who chairs the National Energy Dominance Council, worked with Siemens Energy to help bring the investment to fruition. 
Siemens Energy highlighted its deep roots in the United States, dating back to the 1880s, when the company supported early electrification projects, and says it now wants to meet energy demands driven by artificial intelligence. The Trump Administration has put a heavy emphasis on winning the AI race through initiatives like Project Vault, which creates a strategic reserve of critical minerals essential for AI chips, and by taking stakes in companies to secure domestic supply chains for semiconductors, rare earth minerals, and nuclear energy. For Siemens Energy, the investment nods both to its long-standing commitment to the United States and a signal of confidence in the country’s energy and technological future.

World Premiere Of Amazon MGM’s “Melania”

Trump’s Energy Policy Just Fueled A $1B Investment In American Power And Jobs

Trump’s Energy Priorities Help Attract $1 Billion Siemens Energy Investment To United States

Energy

Siemens

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The Trump administration “paused” five offshore wind leases on Monday over concerns that they would interfere with military radars.
Specifically, the federal government cited “clutter” from the motion of the “massive turbine blades” and the “highly reflective towers,” according to a press release from the Interior Department.
“The prime duty of the United States government is to protect the American people,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Monday.
“Today’s action addresses emerging national security risks, including the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies, and the vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our east coast population centers. The Trump administration will always prioritize the security of the American people,” he continued.
Burgum said that “ONE natural gas pipeline supplies as much energy as these 5 projects COMBINED.”
The Interior Department said that its pause will affect the Vineyard Wind 1, Revolution Wind, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Sunrise Wind, and Empire Wind 1 leases. All of the wind projects are along the East Coast. Vineyard Wind 1, Sunrise, and Revolution Wind are located off the coast of New England, and Empire Wind is off the coast of New York.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) slammed the decision by the administration, saying that they “will look for any excuse to continue its assault on clean energy — and the thousands of good-paying jobs these projects bring — but there is no credible justification for this stoppage.”
“The real threat to national security is in undermining our energy independence,” Hochul continued. “We are working with other impacted states to review every available option to get these projects back on track.”
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President Donald Trump has been a fierce advocate against wind power as a source of energy and instead favors natural gas, oil, and nuclear power.
“Windmills are an economic and environmental disaster. I don’t want even one built during my Administration,” he posted to Truth Social in January. “The thousands of dead and broken ones should be ripped down ASAP. Most expensive energy, only work with massive government subsidies, which we will no longer pay!”
In an August post to Truth Social, he also voiced his opposition to solar power.
“Any State that has built and relied on WINDMILLS and SOLAR for power are seeing RECORD BREAKING INCREASES IN ELECTRICITY AND ENERGY COSTS. THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY! We will not approve wind or farmer destroying Solar. The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!! MAGA,” the president wrote, which prompted the Solar and Storage Industries Association to respond on X, <a href="https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2025/08/21/trump-revives-attacks-on-renewable-energy-as-solar-surges-00517166" target="_blank" rel="noopener">POLITICO</a> reported at the time.
“The real scam is blaming solar for fossil fuel price spikes,” the association stated. “Farmers, families, and businesses choose solar to save money, preserve land, and escape high costs of the old, dirty fuels being forced on them by this administration.”
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Operational wind turbine of South Fork Wind Farm in the Atlantic Ocean off Long Island

Trump Admin Pauses Five Wind Turbine Projects Over ‘National Security Risks’

east coast

Interior Department

Kathy Hochul

wind

The Trump administration announced Tuesday that national park fees will be raised for foreign tourists visiting the United States, while fees for American families will remain the same. 
Starting on January 1,  2026, the Department of the Interior announced that annual park passes will cost $80 for U.S. citizens and permanent residents and $250 for nonresidents. Nonresidents without annual passes will have to pay $100 per person to enter the top 11 most visited national parks in addition to the standard entrance fee. The extra money charged to foreign tourists will go toward maintenance and care of the parks, the Interior Department said. 
“President Trump’s leadership always puts American families first,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum on Tuesday. “These policies ensure that U.S. taxpayers, who already support the National Park System, continue to enjoy affordable access, while international visitors contribute their fair share to maintaining and improving our parks for future generations.” 
&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The Department of <a href="https://twitter.com/Interior?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Interior</a> is making it easier for AMERICANS to enjoy our National Parks:
🇺🇸 U.S. residents enjoy affordable pricing, while foreigners pay a high rate. 
💰 Fee-free days will be extended, now including Flag Day, Independence Day, Constitution Day and more. 
📲… <a href="https://t.co/SQzbXPzScp">https://t.co/SQzbXPzScp</a> <a href="https://t.co/R4aID2Zieh">pic.twitter.com/R4aID2Zieh</a>
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1993418797823283277?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 25, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
American citizens and permanent residents will also get fee-free access to the parks on Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day Weekend, the National Park Service’s 110th anniversary, Constitution Day, Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday, and Veterans’ Day. 
The 11 parks where foreign tourists will have to <a href="https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm">pay more</a> include Acadia National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Everglades National Park, Glacier National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park, and Zion National Park.
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The new fee structure came after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in July to raise entrance and recreation fees at parks for nonresidents. 
“To fund improvements and enhanced experiences across the park systems,” Trump said. “I’ve just signed an executive order to raise entrance fees for foreign tourists while keeping prices low for Americans. And we’re going to do that. The National Parks will be about America First, we’re gonna take it America First.”
The <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/making-america-beautiful-again-by-improving-our-national-parks/">executive order</a> stated that the additional funds raised will be used to enhance park infrastructure and make the parks more accessible and affordable for Americans. 
In recent years, there has been an increase in tourism at national parks, with a <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/visitor-use-statistics-dashboard.htm">record</a> 331.9 million visitors in 2024. That was up from the 2016 record of 330,971,689 visits.

Grand Canyon National Park To Celebrate Centennial In February

Trump Admin Rolls Out ‘America First’ National Park Guidelines

Trump Admin Rolls Out 'America First' National Park Guidelines

Department of the Interior

National Park Service

President Donald Trump promised on Monday to clean up crime and vagrancy in the nation&#8217;s capital by shifting more responsibilities over the district to the federal government. 
Trump made the announcement during a press conference at the White House, where he laid out a number of executive actions he was taking to fight violent crime, decrease homelessness, and otherwise clean up Washington, D.C. 
“I&#8217;m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation&#8217;s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse,” Trump said. “ This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we&#8217;re gonna take our capital back. We&#8217;re taking it back.” 
Trump on Monday invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act and declared a public emergency. This granted him to move the D.C. Police Department under the control of the Justice Department. DEA Administrator Terry Cole will head the department, per Trump&#8217;s orders. 
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and U.S. District Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro all appeared alongside Trump at the news conference.
The president also added that he was sending 800 National Guard troops to patrol the streets of D.C. Last week, the administration sent 500 federal agents into the district, including from the FBI, ATF, DEA, Park Police, the U.S. Marshal Service, the Secret Service, and the Department of Homeland Security. 
“The murder rate in Washington today is higher than that of Bogota, Colombia, Mexico City, some of the places that you hear about as being the worst places on earth,” Trump said, adding that “the only language” that criminals understand is when you “knock the hell out of them.” 
The president added that he would like to see Republicans in Congress move to end cashless bail in the district, saying that the policy led to lawlessness in the streets. Trump added that he planned to improve infrastructure in the district and crack down on homeless encampments. 
“We&#8217;re going to replace the medians that are falling down all over the roads. We&#8217;re gonna replace the potholes,” he said. 
Burgum, who briefly spoke during the conference, said that Park Police had cleared over 70 homeless camps from D.C. since March 27. 
“We’re going to be removing homeless encampments from all over our parks, our beautiful, beautiful parks, which now a lot of people can&#8217;t walk on,” Trump said. “We&#8217;re moving the encampments away, trying to take care of people. Some of those people, we don&#8217;t know how they even got there.”

President Trump DC Public Safety Emergency

‘We’re Gonna Take Our Capital Back’: Here’s Everything Trump Is Going To Do To Clean Up D.C.

‘We're Gonna Take Our Capital Back’: Here's Everything Trump Is Promising To Do To Clean Up D.C.

Department of Justice

Homelessness

Pam Bondi

Pete Hegseth

Violent Crime

Washington D.C.

White House

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that his administration would begin charging foreign tourists more to enter America&#8217;s national parks than U.S. residents.
The announcement at a rally in Iowa came as he signed two executive orders dealing with national parks, including one that directs Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to “appropriately” raise prices of entrance fees and recreation passes for non-residents. 
“To fund improvements and enhanced experiences across the park systems,” Trump said. “I’ve just signed an executive order to raise entrance fees for foreign tourists while keeping prices low for Americans. And we’re going to do that. The National Parks will be about America First, we’re gonna take it America First.” 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> announces that entrance fees for foreign tourists at National Parks will be raised in order to fund park improvements and enhanced experiences: &#8220;The National Parks will be about AMERICA FIRST&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/fIUB7ET0tC">pic.twitter.com/fIUB7ET0tC</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1940943247083520128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/making-america-beautiful-again-by-improving-our-national-parks/">executive order</a> states that the additional funds raised will be used to enhance park infrastructure and make the parks more accessible and affordable for Americans. 
“From the awe-inspiring Grand Canyon to the tranquility of the Great Smoky Mountains, America&#8217;s national parks have provided generations of American families with unforgettable memories,” Trump wrote in the executive order. “It is the policy of my Administration to preserve these opportunities for American families in future generations by increasing entry fees for foreign tourists, improving affordability for United States residents, and expanding opportunities to enjoy America&#8217;s splendid national treasures.”
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The order also directs Burgum to establish rules granting American residents preferential treatment for permitting or in situations where a lottery system restricts entry to certain areas. 
In recent years, there has been an increase in tourism at national parks, with a <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/visitor-use-statistics-dashboard.htm">record</a> 331.9 million visitors in 2024. In response, more and more parks, such as Arches in Utah and Rocky Mountain in Colorado, have begun implementing timed-entry programs. 
The order also rescinded an Obama-era <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/01/19/2017-01383/promoting-diversity-and-inclusion-in-our-national-parks-national-forests-and-other-public-lands-and">executive order</a> that called for the National Park Service to promote diversity and inclusion, including in the workforce. 
The other executive order signed by Trump on Thursday created the “Make America Beautiful Commission,&#8221; composed of Burgum, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, and other cabinet officials. 
The commission was tasked with advising the president on how to “responsibly conserve America&#8217;s national treasures and natural resources” and “developing policies to recover fish and wildlife populations through collaboration rather than regulation.”
The commission was instructed “to expand access to public lands, national parks, national forests, and wildlife refuges while promoting a wide range of outdoor recreation opportunities like hunting, fishing, hiking, biking, skiing, climbing, boating, off-roading, and wildlife viewing.”

US-POLITICS-HOLIDAY-TRUMP

Trump Admin To Adjust National Park Fees To Prioritize American Families Over Foreign Tourists

Executive

Executive Orders

General

Politics

Tourism

Prominent community members of Alaska’s North Slope warmly welcomed top Trump administration officials last week while ripping into the prior administration led by former President Joe Biden.
A trio of Trump cabinet officials – Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright – traveled to northern Alaska last week to announce that Biden-era restrictions on oil development in the region would be <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-moves-to-unlock-millions-of-oil-rich-acres-in-alaska-from-biden-environmental-rules?author=Tim+Pearce&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=15&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Moves+To+Unlock+Millions+Of+Oil-Rich+Acres+In+Alaska+From+Biden+Environmental+Rules">rescinded</a>. The cabinet officials met with North Slope residents in Utqiagvik, Alaska.
Inupiat tribal leaders and officials greeted the news enthusiastically, according to video of the meeting obtained by The Daily Wire.
“When we had a similar meeting with the former Secretary of the Interior, that rule was announced after everybody got on the plane and flew out,” said Josiah Patkotak, mayor of North Slope Borough. He added that the prior administration’s rule “was contrary to what the public comment was.”
“Here we are, full transparency from our own secretary, and I think that deserves another round of applause,” Patkotak said after Burgum announced the administration’s intent to scrap the Biden-era restrictions.
Last year, the Biden administration banned oil and gas exploration and drilling across 10.6 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska (NPRA), a reserve set aside decades ago by Congress for future oil development. The administration put tight restrictions on development on another roughly three million acres of the reserve. In total, over half of the roughly 23-million acre reserve was locked to development.
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“Our ask is the same as always: that the North Slope Inupiat be central to discussions and decisions about land use in our region,” said Rex Rock, Sr., the president and CEO of the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation.
“Under the previous administration, as you heard, there were many actions that undermined our people’s self-determination, ignored our voices, and negatively impacted our communities. Their 2024 rule, Management and Protection of the National Petroleum Reserve – Alaska, was not supported by a single entity in our region – and they still chose to implement it,” he said.
“Our region opposed the 2022 NPRA integrated activity plan because it took 50% of the NPRA off the table for development, which impacts the ability of our region to provide services to our people and communities,” Rock added.
Charles Lampe, the current president of the Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation, said that under the Biden administration, the North Slope and its residents “were under attack” by environmental groups. Groups such as <a href="https://www.wilderness.org/wild-places/alaska/oil-drilling-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge">The Wilderness Society</a> have long pushed for federal restrictions on Alaska’s North Slope that would ban development and industry, even in the petroleum reserve.
“On Day 1, President Trump told the Fish and Wildlife Department to deny that request. And that was such an amazing thing for us to be able to see. And we were so proud of our president then because he made sure that our ancestral homelands weren’t going to be stolen, [but] protected,” Lampe said. “So, I really need to bring back this just immense gratitude to President Trump for that action.”
“If the other guy would have won,” said Lampe, refering to former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, “there&#8217;s no doubt in my mind that our homeland would have been stolen, and there&#8217;s nothing we could have done about it.”

North Slope Borough, Alaska

Alaskan Tribal Leaders Offer ‘Immense Gratitude’ To Trump For Killing Biden Oil Development Bans

Alaska

Chris Wright

Lee Zeldin

Oil and Gas

U.S.

The Trump administration is rolling back Biden-era regulations that blocked energy development in Alaska’s national petroleum reserve.
The Biden administration restricted oil exploration and drilling across 13.3 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska (APR-A) last year in a move that angered industry, state, and tribal leaders. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced Monday that the Trump administration would reverse those rules.
“Congress was clear: the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska was set aside to support America’s energy security through responsible development,” said Burgum in a <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-moves-rescind-2024-rule-alaskas-petroleum-reserve">statement</a>. “The 2024 rule ignored that mandate, prioritizing obstruction over production and undermining our ability to harness domestic resources at a time when American energy independence has never been more critical. We&#8217;re restoring the balance and putting our energy future back on track.”
Alaska’s sole representative in the U.S. House, Nick Begich, celebrated the news.
“Alaska’s right to self-determination is being restored. Thank you @SecretaryBurgum and @POTUS for your leadership and recognizing Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential,” he wrote in a post on <a href="https://x.com/RepNickBegich/status/1929595733591969997">X</a>.
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Last year, the Biden administration issued final rules banning oil and gas drilling across 10.6 million acres in the oil reserve. Over another roughly three million acres, the administration put added protections in place. The rules locked up more than half of the state&#8217;s roughly 23 million-acre petroleum reserve.
The Biden administration also denied the state a permit to build a 211-mile industrial road through the Alaskan wilderness to reach a large copper deposit.
Biden&#8217;s Interior Department cracked down on development in the preserve after the administration approved the Willow Project, an $8 billion oil development project in Alaska. The approval ignited protest against the Biden administration from environmental groups. The administration then cracked down on oil and gas development in Alaska while fuel prices in the United States <a href="https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&amp;s=emm_epm0_pte_nus_dpg&amp;f=m">remained</a> high.
The entire preserve “contains a mean estimate of 895 million barrels of oil and a mean estimate of 52.8 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas,” according to an Institute for Energy Research <a href="https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/National-Petroleum-Reserve-Fact-Sheet-DRS-1-2.pdf">fact sheet</a>.
The Department of the Interior on Monday said that former President Joe Biden’s action “exceeds the agency’s statutory authority under the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976.”
“The 2024 rule significantly expanded procedural requirements and created a presumption against oil and gas activity in approximately 13 million acres designated as ‘Special Areas’ unless operators could prove minimal or no adverse effects on surface resources. These provisions not only lack a basis in the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act but undermine the BLM’s obligation to carry out an effective and timely leasing program,” the Interior Department said.
President Donald Trump has prioritized developing the United States’ domestic oil and gas resources. He has also marked out Alaska’s resources for development, in particular.
One of Trump’s first moves as president was to <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/unleashing-alaskas-extraordinary-resource-potential/">direct</a> a streamlined regulatory process for development in Alaska, covering not just oil and gas, but mining, forestry, fishing, and other industries.

Trump Moves To Unlock Millions Of Oil-Rich Acres In Alaska From Biden Environmental Rules

Inflation and gross domestic product are both down while investment in the United States surges. And we talk to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum about how the Trump administration is unleashing energy development one hundred days into the term.
It’s Thursday, May 1, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
Morning Wire is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/investment-up-gdp-down-drill-baby-drill?elementPosition=0&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">now available on video</a>! You can watch today’s episode below:
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If you’d rather <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=News+%26+Commentary&amp;rowType=Square+Show+Carousel">listen to the show</a>, it&#8217;s still available in audio wherever you get your podcasts. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
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<h2>Investments Surge, GDP Slips</h2>
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Topline: American investment is surging despite turmoil around Trump’s tariffs – and the GDP is slightly slipping.
The GDP shrank by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2025, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped about 200 points in response to that news. But if we dig into the numbers the data is mixed – and there are actually some significant positives. During a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Trump and other administration officials challenged the media’s narrative about the economy, arguing that they are turning Biden’s economy around and that “core GDP” is on the rise.
“I was very against everything Biden was doing in terms of the economy,” Trump <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-1xpqn6z2o">said</a>. “ But we took over his mess in so many different ways… despite what we were handed we turned them around.”
White House trade advisor Peter Navarro broke down how the administration crunched the numbers. He said that a surge in imports and DOGE slashing government waste make the GDP look much lower on paper. “The markets need to look below the surface of that,” Navarro said. “We had a 22% increase in domestic investments. That is off the charts.”
In that same cabinet meeting, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick laid out details about how another semiconductor company, which is the main chip supplier for Apple, is building a major manufacturing plant in Arizona. Trump also said he has gotten $8 trillion in new investments in the United States since taking office.
Inflation slowed to its lowest rate since September, and consumer spending increased by $135 billion, or 0.7%. Much of that was Americans buying cars and other big-ticket items, partly to get ahead of Trump’s tariffs. Meanwhile, prices were static in March, and personal incomes rose by $116.8 billion, or 0.5%.
<h2>Drill Baby Drill</h2>
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Topline: The Trump Administration is looking to break America’s reliance on Chinese natural resources by expanding domestic mining and drilling.
The Department of the Interior oversees billions of acres of federal lands and waters and has the power to open up new land for mining and drilling operations. Under the Trump administration, it’s doing just that.
This month, when China announced a ban on the export of several rare earth minerals, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced that he would reverse President Biden’s so-called “war on mining” to ensure the United States could begin producing those minerals on its own. 
“Obama, Biden, you know, their whole approach was we&#8217;re gonna shut down mining, we&#8217;re gonna shut down oil and gas development,” Burgum told The Daily Wire. “They really, I’m gonna say, crushed the mining industry, both the extraction of these resources, but also the processing of that…China was happy to have the rest of the Western world stop mining so that they could take control of the markets around these critical minerals, which we need for defense, for technology, for electronics, really for everything today in modern life depends on it. So now in the United States, we&#8217;ve gotta get back in the game.”
Because President Trump made an emergency energy declaration, Secretary Burgum, who’s also the Chair of the National Energy Dominance Council, was able to bypass regulations that typically result in years-long delays on new mining projects. Now, they’ll be approved within two weeks. Burgum told the Daily Wire that overregulation of the mining industry has driven business out of the U.S. — forcing us to be more reliant on countries like China. Burgum says that bringing mining back to the United States will be better for the global environment. 
“We do it cleaner, better, safer, smarter and healthier here in the U.S. because when we attack these resource-based industries, we don&#8217;t reduce the demand. We just shift the supply overseas and they shift it to China, who might be extracting this from in the DRC in the middle of Africa. And they&#8217;re doing it without reclamation. They&#8217;re doing it with, sometimes, slave labor, prisoner labor. They&#8217;re doing it with no emissions control on what they&#8217;re doing. So it&#8217;s worse for the global environment. It helps our adversaries, it hurts our economy, and it&#8217;s horrible for national security.”
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<h2>Trade War Hits U.S. Farmers</h2>
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Topline: President Trump continues to tout his trade policies as China makes quiet concessions, but also cancels significant U.S. agricultural orders.
A report from Reuters published Wednesday says that China has created a list of U.S.-made products that will be exempt from its retaliatory 125% tariffs, in addition to other exemptions it has already made on pharmaceuticals, microchips, and aircraft engines. Behind the scenes, Beijing is apparently privately notifying companies about these latest exemptions – that’s obviously to preserve this posture that China will fight Trump on tariffs to the end. 
Trump has said he’s <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/28/trump-xi-tariffs-china-bessent.html">in trade talks</a> with China and that President Xi recently called him. China has denied it and is publicly putting on a bold face. 
“Bowing to a bully is like drinking poison to quench thirst. It only deepens the crisis.” A widely disseminated Chinese propaganda video said earlier this week. “ Make no mistake, the U.S. will keep flip-flopping and playing hardball. But China will stand firm, no matter how hard the wind blows, no matter how clouds rage.”
Last week, China made its largest cancellation of pork orders in five years, halting about 12,000 tons of U.S. pork. The nation has also significantly reduced its soybean order by 97% compared to two weeks ago. For some context, U.S. farmers export more than $176 billion in agricultural products a year. Nearly 10% of that is soybeans and pork for China.

MorningWire_THUMB

Morning Brief: Investment Up, GDP Down, & Drill, Baby, Drill

Economy

Farmers

Trade War

The Departments of the Interior (DOI) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are creating a taskforce to study how federal land could be used to alleviate America’s housing shortage.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and HUD chief Scott Turner announced the partnership between their departments on Monday in a clip posted to social media. The two cabinet secretaries signed an agreement to begin work on tackling “our nation’s housing affordability crisis.”
“HUD will work with DOI to assess the housing needs in areas where federal lands may. Available yet underutilized and implement tailored housing programs with guidance from states and localities,” Turner said.
Burgum added: “This partnership will identify underutilized federal lands suitable for residential development and streamline the land transfer process. It will also promote policies to increase the availability of affordable housing while balancing important environmental and land use considerations.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
We need 7 million affordable homes in America and 20% of America’s landmass is owned by the Department of Interior. 
Today, <a href="https://twitter.com/SecretaryBurgum?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecretaryBurgum</a> and I are announcing a partnership between <a href="https://twitter.com/HUDgov?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HUDgov</a> &amp; <a href="https://twitter.com/Interior?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Interior</a> to identify and open under utilized federal lands for affordable housing. <a href="https://t.co/p1EU04Ay7B">pic.twitter.com/p1EU04Ay7B</a>
&mdash; Scott Turner (@SecretaryTurner) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecretaryTurner/status/1901634637606035462?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 17, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The federal government owns about a quarter of the land inside the United States, and most of that land is located in the western regions of the country. The Bureau of Land Management, which resides within the Department of the Interior, is responsible for overseeing much of that land.
The effort to build millions of new homes, if it proves workable, would be one of the largest housing efforts in United States history. Past attempts have been unsuccessful, however, largely due to disagreements between officials at the various levels of government involved in such an undertaking, according to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/economy/housing/trump-wants-to-build-homes-on-federal-land-heres-what-that-would-look-like-6b8fb82e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Wall Street Journal</a>.
The housing plan would likely focus on federal lands around major cities such as Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City, according to experts. A preliminary analysis by a conservative think tank, the American Enterprise Institute, found that housing developments on just 512,000 acres of the federal government’s roughly 640 million acres would result in three to four million homes.
Burgum and Turner outlined the agreement in an <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/federal-land-can-be-home-sweet-home-joint-task-force-hud-interior-department-housing-affordability-3a281d36?mod=article_inline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">op-ed</a> in The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
“HUD will pinpoint where housing needs are most pressing and guide the process by working with state and local leaders who know their communities best. Interior will identify locations that can support homes while carefully considering environmental impact and land-use restrictions,” the secretaries wrote.
“Streamlining the regulatory process is a cornerstone of this partnership. Historically, building on federal land is a nightmare of red tape—lengthy environmental reviews, complex transfer protocols and disjointed agency priorities. This partnership will cut through the bureaucracy,” they continued. “This isn’t a free-for-all to build on federal lands, although we recognize that bad-faith critics will likely call it that. It’s a strategic effort to use our resources responsibly while preserving our most beautiful lands.”

Las Vegas

Burgum, Turner Announce Taskforce To Tackle ‘Housing Affordability Crisis’ In U.S.

Housing

Governor Doug Burgum Visits FOX Business Network’s “The Big Money Show”

Make America Beautiful Again: An Interview With Doug Burgum, Secretary Of The Interior

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