Doug Burgum on Energy & Oil

	Doug Burgum on Energy & Oil

The oil industry is so safe, environmentally friendly

The oil industry today is so efficient, so effective and so safe and so smart, and so environmentally friendly compared to any other nation. North Dakota does it better than anyone, and we're losing a battle, perhaps nationally, but we're losing a battle. "Oh, you guys do fossil fuels...oo-ick." It's like, oh no, we're actually helping stabilize the world so we don't have to buy energy from Iran and Iraq and, Russia and Venezuela. You know, who then use that oil money to support terrorism. Source: 2024 State of the State Address to North Dakota legislature , Jan 23, 2024

$350 million Carbon Capture Project for clean coal

Gov. Doug Burgum today applauded the U.S. Department of Energy's decision to award a $350 million Carbon Capture Demonstration Projects Program grant to Minnkota Power Cooperative for its proposed carbon capture project at the Milton R. Young Station near Center. The major DOE grant comes after the North Dakota Industrial Commission, chaired by Burgum, approved a $150 million loan in July for the Minnkota project through the state's Clean Sustainable Energy Authority and $15 million from the state's Lignite Research Fund.

"The technology being developed for Minnkota's project has the potential to be a game-changer for our state, the nation and the world by curbing emissions and ensuring that the reliable, affordable energy we've come to expect from coal continues to keep the lights on," Burgum said. "This promising technology will benefit consumers, the environment and the coal and oil industries that provide thousands of good-paying jobs and billions of dollars in tax revenue.

Source: 2024 North Dakota Governor press release:"$350M DOE/2023" , Dec 14, 2023

Biden's climate policy is existential threat to America

[On Biden's appeasement of China]: We're in a cold war with China. We're going to give Ukraine to Russia, and then we're going to give Taiwan to China, and think that's a foreign policy? That will make our nation less successful, make us more poor.

And at the core of all that is energy policy, because China imports 10 million barrels of oil a day. They're the largest import in the world. And we have had four Cabinet members from the Biden administration there this summer, and none of them talked about U.S. energy.

The first one to go to each of those countries was [Climate Envoy John] Kerry to talk about the folly of the climate policy, which is making the world less stable. It's empowering dictators. It's not about climate change that we need to be worried about. It's about the Biden climate policies that are actually the existential threat to America's future.

Source: Fox Business 2023 Republican primary debate in Simi Valley , Sep 27, 2023

Don't just trade Mideast OPEC with China's Sinopec

We can't just talk about the Biden economy because the economy, energy and national security are all tied together. We're paying too much for energy right now. But part of the reason why is because the Biden policies on energy.

We've got a plan right now, the $1.2 trillion Green New Deal spending buried in the Inflation Creation Act [the Inflation Reduction Act -- ed.] is something that is just subsidizing China.

If we're going to stop buying oil from the Middle East and start buying batteries from China, we're just trading OPEC for Sinopec. And then belatedly, the Biden administration put sanctions on Russian oil. Who's buying it? China.

So, if you buy a battery in this country, you buy a solar panel, it's being produced in a plant in China powered by coal where it's being powered by oil and gas at 20 percent off. And every farmer in this county like to buy diesel at 20 percent off, just like they're buying it in China.

Source: Fox News 2023 Republican primary debate in Milwaukee , Aug 23, 2023

America being truly energy independent stabilizes the globe

A key reason we need to empower American innovation is to dramatically increase energy production. Doug knows we need to stop buying energy from our enemies and start selling energy to our friends and allies. America produces energy cleaner and safer than anywhere else in the world. When America becomes truly energy independent and supports our allies we prevent wars like Putin started in Ukraine. We stabilize the globe and restore America as the leader of the free world. Source: 2024 Presidential campaign website DougBurgum.com , Jun 14, 2023

North Dakota takes and all-of-the-above approach

North Dakota continues to successfully engage an all-of-the-above approach that harnesses oil, gas, coal, hydroelectric, renewable fuels, wind and solar. Entrepreneur Harold Hamm led the charge to lift America's 40-yearold ban on exporting U.S. crude oil in 2015. Selling more clean U.S. energy to our friends and allies, versus forcing them to buy dirty energy from our adversaries, is the single most powerful change the U.S. could make today to drive American strength up. Source: 2023 State of the State Address to the N.D. legislature , Jan 3, 2023

Providing a viable path forward for coal has been a priority

Providing a viable path forward for coal has been a priority, and we were thrilled to provide assistance to the sale of Coal Creek Station to Rainbow Energy Center last year. It was a victory not only for the hundreds of workers at Coal Creek and Falkirk Mine and the region, but for every North Dakotan who expects the lights to turn on when they flick the switch and the heat to come on when they turn up the thermostat. Source: 2023 State of the State Address to the N.D. legislature , Jan 3, 2023

On our way toward achieving carbon neutrality by 2030

Today, we're on our way toward achieving carbon neutrality as a state by 2030, thanks to our extraordinary capacity to safely store over 252 billion tons of CO2, or 50 years of the nation's CO2 output. We were the first state to establish the legal and regulatory framework for carbon capture, utilization and storage, or CCUS, in 2009. Now we're in a spot to lead the nation in this emerging industry, because we can permit our own CO2 storage wells at least five times faster than the EPA. Source: 2023 State of the State Address to the N.D. legislature , Jan 3, 2023

EPA rules infringed on state & Congressional authority

Burgum released a statement regarding the Supreme Court decision affirming the State's role as an equal partner to the federal government in regulating greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants.

"The Court's ruling is a tremendously significant decision for State's rights and consumers. This ruling puts a halt to federal overreach, including far reaching EPA proposed rules that infringed not just on State's but congressional authority," Burgum said. "Leading with innovation, not regulation, and all-of-the-above energy strategies that are responsive to market trends, promote new technologies to boost production and curb emissions is an environmentally sound and common-sense approach."

In 2020, the US Court of Appeals struck down the EPA's Affordable Clean Energy Rule, which recognized the shift in delegating to the States the primary authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plans. The decision today in North Dakota vs. EPA reversed that ruling.

Source: Statement on ND v. EPA (Presidential 2024 press release) , Jun 30, 2022

Soybean oil can be refined into renewable green diesel fuel

Soybean oil taken from that plant at Spiritwood will be shipped to the Marathon Refinery in Dickinson to be refined into renewable green diesel. It'll be sold into such states as California at a huge premium, maybe as high as $1 a gallon, to meet their fuel standards. We take it, we process it, we turn it into soybean oil. We take it and we process it again, turn it into green diesel in Dickinson. We're adding value to that same soybean three times, not once.

We are already well on our way towards meeting our carbon neutral goal for 2030. The approved projects from that first grant round will sequester 18 million tons of CO2. We have an enormous opportunity not just to store our own carbon, but to store our neighbors' carbon. We can store the entire nation's CO2 for the next 50 years. We've got groups working on building CO2 pipelines to bring that CO2 here for us to store it 7,000 feet underground safely.

Source: 2022 State of the State Address to North Dakota legislature , Feb 16, 2022

Clean coal will allow us to shape global energy policy

Creating a low-cost, highly reliable, clean coal base load solution for a planet hungry for more electricity, yet focused on a carbon-constrained future, would put North Dakota in the position to shape global energy policy. We can support those North Dakota communities that wouldn't exist without the coal plants and the coal sector workers who've been keeping the lights on dependently and cost-effectively in America with North Dakota lignite for more than 100 years. Source: 2021 State of the State Address to North Dakota legislature , Jan 5, 2021

Private sector innovation over regulation on carbon

It's private sector innovation over regulation. Innovation is about the application of research and technology to solve real problems. We have an opportunity through innovation, rather than through regulation to outlaw carbon, to innovate and take carbon from the devil element on the chemistry chart to have it be the thing that is a value added input. We have a chance through innovation and regulation to completely transform the entire debate which is consuming the world about energy. Source: 2020 North Dakota State of the State address , Jan 29, 2020

Lignite (brown coal) is transforming power plant emissions

Our lignite industry continues to innovate and invest--providing essential baseload electricity to the grid--despite long-term economic and regulatory uncertainty created by over-reaching federal policy in the previous administration. Project Tundra--which aims to capture carbon dioxide that can be used to revitalize old oil wells--was recently awarded the largest grant in the history of the Lignite Research Council, $15 million. This partnership between the Energy and Environmental Research Center at UND-- lignite--and the oil and gas industry--is transforming power plant emissions to a marketable, value-added commodity. Source: 2019 State of the State address to North Dakota Legislature , Jan 3, 2019

On energy, all of the above

We have an approach in our state, which is all of the above. So we're supporting oil and gas. We're supporting coal. We're supporting wind. Oil and gas, obviously, most of that, a lot of that's going towards transportation fuels. As the renewable continues to grow and grow, at a low variable cost, those dynamics put pressure on the economics between those two. We have to continue to sort that out as we go forward. Source: 2018 North Dakota State of the State address , Jan 23, 2018

Protest campers at Dakota Access Pipeline should leave

Burgum spoke of impending damage to the environment and potential danger to protesters and first responders if Dakota Access Pipeline opponents don't vacate the main camp in southern Morton County before a likely flood hits in March. The unauthorized camp sits in a floodplain on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land at the confluence of the Missouri and Cannonball rivers. Burgum said vacating the camp and cleaning up the abandoned cars, illegal structures and human waste from months of occupation will be a costly and time-consuming effort.

"The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has repeatedly asked for the remaining protesters to leave. We unequivocally support him in this request," Burgum said.

"Peaceful protest is a protected right of all Americans," Burgum said. "However, protesters must respect private property rights, court orders and law enforcement personnel. Acts of vandalism, harassment and trespass are not a part of North Dakota's character and will not be tolerated."

Source: Press release on 2017 North Dakota State of the State speech , Feb 8, 2017

We are not running out of oil; we have a global surplus

We have a global oil surplus today because of the rapid advancements in technology. This stands in stark contrast to a multi-decade narrative that we were "running out of oil." In energy exploration, some of these technologic advances that have contributed to the unforeseen abundance, such as deep horizontal drilling, were pioneered in the Bakken formation in North Dakota. Source: Recode.net on 2016 North Dakota gubernatorial race , Jan 31, 2016

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