


President-elect Donald J. Trump said Friday that Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, his pick to run the Interior Department, will also serve as the administration’s point person to coordinate energy policy across the federal government.
In that role, Mr. Burgum will be charged with executing Mr. Trump’s vision of a government that drives up fossil fuel production while it demolishes environmental regulations.
Mr. Burgum will be “Chairman of the newly formed, and very important, National Energy Council, which will consist of all Departments and Agencies involved in the permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation, transportation, of ALL forms of American Energy,” Mr. Trump wrote in a statement.
“This Council will oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE by cutting red tape, enhancing private sector investments across all sectors of the Economy, and by focusing on INNOVATION over longstanding, but totally unnecessary, regulation,” he wrote.
The position was inspired by President Barack Obama and President Biden, Democrats who created White House “climate czars,” said people close to Mr. Trump’s transition team, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Those climate advisers drove a “whole-of-government” approach to ensure that all federal agencies advanced efforts to reduce the nation’s use of planet-warming coal, oil and gas and to accelerate the use of wind and solar power and electric vehicles.