Doug Burgum

Rule Changes

Signed the final plan and Record of Decision

Farmers and cities across the Southwest just learned how much less river water they will get. On August 22, the US Department of the Interior signed rules cutting Arizona, California and Nevada by about 1.25 million acre-feet a year, roughly 21% of their Colorado River supply. Arizona takes the deepest cut.

Updated 16 hours ago

Rule Changes

Appealing the court order that struck down his sign-off rule, while some solar permits quietly resume and wind stays frozen

Trump promised to "unleash American energy." A federal judge disagreed: in April 2026, Chief Judge Denise Casper blocked five Interior Department policies that had frozen wind and solar permits nationwide, including Secretary Doug Burgum's rule requiring his personal sign-off on every renewable decision.

Updated Aug 8

Rule Changes

Facing fifth consecutive legal defeat as federal judges uniformly reject offshore wind suspensions; Interior Department deciding whether to appeal or pivot to blocking future permitting

Five federal judges delivered consecutive defeats to Trump's offshore wind freeze between January 13 and February 2, 2026, granting preliminary injunctions to all five East Coast projects—Revolution Wind, Empire Wind, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Vineyard Wind, Sunrise Wind—representing over $25 billion in investment and 6+ gigawatts of capacity. All five projects are now operating under court orders.

Updated May 16

Rule Changes

Lost all five preliminary injunction hearings; no appeals filed as of February 10; judges across political spectrum questioned national security rationale as pretextual

On December 22, 2025, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum paused all major offshore wind construction on the East Coast: Vineyard Wind, Revolution Wind, Sunrise Wind, Empire Wind, and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind. These five projects, representing $28 billion in investment and enough power for millions of homes, halted on orders from Washington citing radar interference and national security risks near military installations.

Updated May 16

Rule Changes

Overseeing the NPR-A regulatory rollback and leasing restart

BLM's rollback of the 2024 NPR-A protections isn't new news—but today is when it becomes real. As of December 17, 2025, the rescission is officially in effect, wiping out the Biden-era rule that tried to hardwire stronger guardrails into how the Western Arctic gets developed.

Updated May 15

Force in Play

Overseeing transfer of public lands into border military zones

Donald Trump has quietly turned long stretches of the southern border into de facto military bases. Under a new system of National Defense Areas, soldiers can stop migrants, hold them, and help prosecutors charge them as trespassers on military land.

Updated May 11