As oil prices topped $100 a barrel and gasoline climbed 60 cents a gallon in less than two weeks, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum was attending Rupert Murdoch’s 95th birthday party in Manhattan and unveiling a ceremonial IndyCar. That’s according to a new Politico report on the growing frustration with Trump’s self-described energy “Tiger Team,” which details how Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright have fumbled the biggest energy crisis of Trump’s second term.
“Doug Burgum is becoming the ‘Where’s Waldo’ of the administration,” one industry official told Politico. “Where is he on these important energy issues?”
A person close to the White House was blunter: “I think people are generally annoyed with Doug Burgum,” the person said. “There’s a lot of eye rolling around him.”
The criticism extends to the National Energy Dominance Council, the new group Burgum chairs that was supposed to be the administration’s energy nerve center. An oil industry lobbyist dismissed the NEDC as little more than a branding exercise. “To me it’s a PR shop — there’s very little policy chops in there,” the lobbyist told Politico. “Beyond being an entry point to the administration, I don’t really know what they do.”
Meanwhile, the administration has struggled to explain why it didn’t anticipate the energy price spike that followed the attack on Iran. The New York Times reported that Trump’s advisers dismissed warnings that Iran might close the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil supply travels. Energy Secretary Wright told Bloomberg on Feb. 18 that he wasn’t worried about energy disruptions, pointing to last year’s 12-Day War. Ten days later, Operation Epic Fury began.
During one of his many Fox News appearances this week, Burgum called the Times report “completely fake news, obviously.” But even Sen. Rick Scott, a loyal Trump ally, acknowledged that gas prices are “going to be up for a while.”
When 32 countries agreed Wednesday to a historic release of 400 million barrels from strategic reserves, Burgum initially deflected, saying whether the U.S. would participate was “up to President Trump.” Trump later authorized a 172 million barrel release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but markets shrugged. Oil prices rose for an 11th straight day.
Quick hits
Here are the park signs in Utah, New Mexico, and beyond flagged under Burgum’s censorship order
KUER | Santa Fe New Mexican | Outside
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Wyoming Public Media | Billings Gazette
Quote of the day
We cannot critique our present without those complex histories. And if we can’t critique it, then we can’t chart out alternative visions of the future.”
—University of Utah history professor Danielle Olden, KUER
Picture This
Stumble upon an archaeological site on public lands? Help protect our shared history:
✅ Leave artifacts where they are
✅ Stay on designated routes
✅ Respect closures & private property
✅ Report looting or vandalism to BLM or local law enforcement
Items like arrowheads, tools, bones, basketry, and textiles on federal lands are protected by law. Preserving these places helps honor our past especially, as we celebrate America’s 250th birthday.