Walleye cakes, peach cobbler and wine provided by North Dakota’s top energy lobbying group were on the menu in May when Doug Burgum, then the governor, invited oil and gas executives to his official residence.
The guest of honor: Harold Hamm, the billionaire founder of Continental Resources, one of the leading independent oil companies in the country.
He was a frequent presence at Mr. Burgum’s political events. Mr. Burgum, in turn, spoke at banquets honoring Mr. Hamm, wrote a glowing blurb for his memoir and likened him in an official address to former President Theodore Roosevelt.
Now, Mr. Burgum is President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice to lead the Interior Department and coordinate energy policy across government agencies. As he goes before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday, Mr. Burgum’s relationships with oil and gas executives like Mr. Hamm are expected to raise questions. Democrats and activists said they worry about the amount of influence the industry will have on policies.
“Governor Burgum’s close friendship and financial relationship with billionaire oil and gas executive Harold Hamm presents a clear conflict of interest for the nominee slated to oversee the federal oil and gas leasing program,” said Tony Carrk, the executive director of Accountable.US, a watchdog group.
Mr. Trump campaigned on a promise to “drill, baby, drill.” He has said he wants to make it easier for energy companies to exploit natural resources, build new oil and gas pipelines and export terminals and end the development of wind energy, which competes with fossil fuels.
