January 16, 2025 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SUWA Statement on Gov. Doug Burgum’s Nomination for DOI Secretary – 1.16.25
Testimony confirms his desire to prioritize fossil fuel development and extractive use across public lands
Contacts:
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; grant@suwa.org
Washington, DC – Today, the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing to consider the nomination of former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum to serve as Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior. Below is a quote from SUWA Legislative Advocate Lauren Hainsworth and additional information.
“Management of federal public lands in Utah requires a thoughtful, balanced approach, but during today’s hearing Governor Burgum made it clear that if confirmed, the scales will be wildly tipped in favor of extractive industry and fossil fuels,” said Lauren Hainsworth, Legislative Advocate for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. “Utah’s red rock country and wildest places are national treasures and should be conserved, not exploited. We encourage the Senate to reject Governor Burgum’s nomination.”
Additional information:
The Department of the Interior (DOI) is a Cabinet-level Department that manages America’s vast natural and cultural resources. Employing over 70,000 people, DOI has 11 Bureaus, including the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). In Utah, the BLM manages 22.8 million acres of public lands, ranging from “spectacular red-rock canyons and roaring rivers to high mountain peaks and expansive salt flats” including Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (designated in 1996 and the first monument managed by the BLM) and Bears Ears National Monument (designated in 2017 and jointly managed with the US Forest Service).
The BLM also manages several Congressionally-designated Wilderness areas in Utah (including remarkable places such as Muddy Creek (Emery County), Canaan Mountain (Washington County), and the Cedar Mountains (Tooele County)). BLM-Utah also manages more than 80 Wilderness Study Areas, and other significant public landscapes including Nine Mile Canyon, Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, and the Desolation Canyon and Labyrinth Canyon stretches of the Green River. SUWA’s signature bill, America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, would designate more than 8 million acres of BLM land in Utah as wilderness.
###
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is a nonprofit organization with members and supporters from around the country dedicated to protecting America’s redrock wilderness. From offices in Moab, Salt Lake City, and Washington, DC, our team of professionals defends the redrock, organizes support for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, and stewards this world-renowned landscape. Learn more at www.suwa.org.