Doug Burgum, the Republican governor of North Dakota, has emerged as a key adviser on energy issues in Donald J. Trump’s campaign to retake the White House, acting as a liaison between Mr. Trump and the oil billionaires whom the former president has encouraged to fund his presidential bid.
Along the way, Governor Burgum has articulated a sophisticated policy approach that can at times seem environmentally conscious, but in fact is designed to benefit oil, gas and coal, the fossil fuels that are driving climate change.
“It’s a tale of two Dougs,” said Dustin Gawrylow, a conservative political commentator in North Dakota.
Mr. Burgum set a goal in 2021 that North Dakota would stop adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by 2030, becoming “carbon neutral.” Carbon dioxide from burning oil, gas and coal is a major driver of global warming.
“What other state is doing carbon neutral by 2030?” said Heather Reams, the president of Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions, a group that tries to engage Republicans on climate policy.
“I was very impressed by the level of detail that he had,” said Ms. Reams, who recalled speaking to Governor Burgum about his carbon neutrality plan at a Republican Governors Association meeting. “Not like he gave me a couple of talking points and walked away. He talked about how this was about economic prosperity, national security, energy independence.”
Governor Burgum didn’t use the term “climate change” or talk about how burning fossil fuels was dangerously heating planet. Indeed, he accepted the financial and political support from oil and gas companies in a state where the economy is heavily tied to those fuels.
But he also challenged the oil industry to eliminate spills and created the state’s first Department of Environmental Quality. When he announced his carbon neutrality goal, Governor Burgum said North Dakota must meet the challenges of a “carbon constrained future.”
A two-term governor who is not seeking re-election in November, Mr. Burgum ran a short-lived campaign for the Republican presidential nomination last year. He ended his campaign December.
That experience gave Governor Burgum a brief taste of national politics. He quickly endorsed Mr. Trump and joined his campaign, serving as an informal adviser on energy and helping to connect Mr. Trump with oil billionaires, according to two people familiar with the campaign. In appearances around the country on behalf of Mr. Trump, Governor Burgum has aggressively argued that the country needs more oil and gas and has accused President Biden of “demonizing” the fossil fuel industry by encouraging the growth of wind, solar and other nonpolluting energy.
“Right now he is taking the party line of the energy industry,” Mr. Gawrylow said. He chalked up the shift to the “national exposure” Governor Burgum has received since his presidential run.
Others in the state made similar claims. “In the last three years he’s clearly been shifting,” said Scott Skokos, the executive director of the Dakota Resource Council, an environmental group in North Dakota. Mr. Skokos and others said they had witnessed Governor Burgum taking a sharp tack to the right on energy issues and echoing the oil industry’s attacks on the Biden administration after he entered his second term in office and prepared for a presidential run.
“I don’t think it’s so much that he changed his views as he’s an opportunist,” Mr. Skokos said.
Governor Burgum’s office did not make him available for an interview. His spokesman, Mike Nowatzki, said in a statement that he has remained consistent in his positions. “The governor has always believed that the oil and gas industry is a critical component of an all-of-the-above energy strategy,” Mr. Nowatzki said.
In April, Governor Burgum helped to bring oil and gas executives to Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s private resort in Florida, for a now-infamous dinner during which Mr. Trump suggested that they raise $1 billion for his campaign. Mr. Trump told the executives they would save far more than that in tax breaks and legal fees after he repealed Mr. Biden’s climate agenda, according to several people who were present and who requested anonymity to discuss a private event.
One of the other organizers of the Mar-a-Lago event was Harold G. Hamm, the billionaire founder and chairman of Continental Resources, one of the country’s largest independent oil companies and the largest leaseholder in the Bakken oil field that straddles North Dakota and Montana.
Governor Burgum and Mr. Hamm were already well acquainted.
Mr. Hamm has contributed both to Governor Burgum’s campaigns for governor as well as to his presidential bid. His company has also invested $250 million in a proposed $5.2…
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