The surprising climate commitments of Trump's new 'energy czar'

As the governor of a major oil-producing state, Doug Burgum emerged as a staunch champion of the fossil fuel industry. Yet he promised to make his state carbon neutral, by preventing climate-warming gases from reaching the atmosphere.

Now, for his next act, the former North Dakota governor is set to become Donald Trump’s interior secretary and “energy czar,” a key figure in enacting the president-elect’s “drill, baby, drill” energy agenda.

Burgum, who will oversee how much oil, gas and coal the United States extracts from public lands and waters over the next four years, embraces the bold and controversial idea that we can capture much of the planet-warming pollution from that activity. If the country follows Burgum’s lead, it will embark on a massive climate experiment — one with his home state at the center of it.

“This is a great opportunity to leverage one of the world’s challenges for the benefit of our entire state,” Burgum said of carbon capture when announcing a plan to make North Dakota carbon neutral by the end of the decade.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-surprising-climate-commitments-of-trump-s-new-energy-czar/ar-AA1xawVM