April 22 marks the 55^th anniversary of Earth Day. In 1970, Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin was inspired to start Earth Day after seeing an 800–square mile oil slick from an airplane in the Santa Barbara Channel. Earth Day came at a time of ecological consciousness, echoed in the songs of Joni Mitchell (“Big Yellow Taxi,” 1969) and later “Mercy, Mercy, Me” by Marvin Gaye (1971).
           
Also, in 1970, President Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency. A flawed agency, yes, but it found victories against air and water pollution, and species extinction, while regulating new chemicals.
           
Leaders, like Secretary of the Interior (and former N.D. Governor) Doug Burgum, have different ideas.

The recent oil spill of the Keystone Pipeline illustrates the need for regulation: It echoes the 1969 oil spill.
           
Maybe it’s not 3.5 million gallons, but it is 168,000 gallons spilled (42 gallons in a barrel). The spill reinforces the concerns of Indigenous and environmental groups for this Canadian pipeline which started in 2011, a 2,700 mile pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to North Dakota, Illinois, Oklahoma and beyond. Even then, critics cited the risk for pollution – including polluted aquifers.
           
We have had three to five significant spills since 2017, the largest one was 14,000 barrels in 2022, in Kansas. Now we have a spill closer to home, near Fort Ransom, N.D.

Sure, we cannot accuse Burgum of breaking the pipeline, but he offers no cautions or concerns.Instead, he wants to increase the threats to the environment, including, yes, climate change.

“Clean” coal is back.

According to the UPI, the Interior Department authorized…
“$13 million in grants to reclaim abandoned mine lands in an effort to revitalize coal communities. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the money reflects a commitment to revitalize coal country. ‘Restoring these abandoned mine lands is an opportunity to invest in communities that helped power our nation,’ said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum in a statement. “This investment is a testament to our commitment to revitalizing coal country…”

But clean coal is a myth. “While some policymakers support ‘clean coal,’ coal can never be clean. It is harmful to both people and the planet,” Green America said in a website statement. “Coal combustion releases the greenhouse gases …during combustion.”

Burgum has also proposed using federal lands for “affordable housing.”

The Sierra Club says, in selling off public lands, Burgum “could decimate our North Dakota Badlands and permanently eliminate public access to the lands we all own.”

REI, the popular outdoor outfitter, issued a public apology for its previous endorsement of 
Burgum
.

While other environmental groups warned against Burgum, “arguing that the former businessman would sacrifice federal lands in the name of increasing profits for fossil fuel companies,” REI supported his nomination, citing his “history of support for outdoor recreation, the outdoor recreation economy, and the protection of public lands…”

As REI CEO Mary Beth Laughton put it, “Our public lands are under attack. From the gutting of national park staff to expanded threats of drilling, or even selling off of our public lands, the future of life outdoors has never felt so uncertain. I’m here to apologize to our members on behalf of REI, to retract our endorsement of Doug Burgum, and to take full accountability for how we move forward.”

Thanks to Burgum and others, we are losing ground.