US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum Talks State of the Union, AI Race

Summary

---

Bloomberg Talks – Episode Summary

Guest: US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum
Date: February 25, 2026
Main Theme:
A wide-ranging conversation with US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum about President Trump’s State of the Union, the US approach to energy policy, the AI technology "arms race", and America’s forward trajectory in global competitiveness.

---

Overview

Secretary Doug Burgum joins Bloomberg to reflect on the 2026 State of the Union Address, highlighting the Biden administration's energy policies, the growing role of AI, and how the Interior Department is contributing to economic growth and national security. The discussion centers around energy abundance, the "bring your own power" movement for hyperscale data centers, American competitiveness versus China, and outreach efforts to communicate these policies nationwide.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. State of the Union: Historic Reflections and Key Takeaways

• Celebrating 250 Years: The president’s address was praised for its historic scope, touching on America’s founding and present challenges (01:26).
• Medal of Honor Moments: Burgum highlights two emotional moments when Medals of Honor were awarded—one to a 100-year-old WWII/Korea veteran, and another to a helicopter pilot involved in high-profile operations against Maduro (01:35).
• Two Main Themes:
  • Peace Around the World
  • Prosperity and Affordability for Americans
• Quote:

  "Peace around the world, prosperity for Americans, affordability. President Trump’s policies turning this country around in the last 12 months." (01:53 - Burgum)

2. Energy Policy: ‘Drill Baby Drill’ and Data Center Power Independence

• Focus on Energy Abundance:
  • President Trump’s push is for energy addition, not transition (02:38).
  • He supports "behind the meter" capability (BYOP—Bring Your Own Power) for tech hyperscalers to run private power plants for data centers, reducing grid stress.
• National Energy Dominance Council:
  • Led by Secretary Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, focusing on enabling direct data center power sourcing (02:38).
• Global Strategy:
  • The US aims for energy security and uses energy exports as geopolitical leverage against countries dependent on Russia/Iran.
• Quote:

  “There is no energy transition. President Trump understands ... we've got to have energy abundance. We got to be able to sell energy to our friends and allies ... we can stop wars and stop terrorism by having energy abundance from the US.” (02:54 - Burgum)

3. Addressing NIMBY and Electricity Rate Concerns

• Off-Grid Data Centers:
  • Data centers drawing power off-grid don’t burden electricity ratepayers—sometimes lower costs through strategic industrial siting (03:58).
• Example from North Dakota:
  • A $1.2B data center construction led to reduced rates for locals.
• Climate Criticism Pushback:
  • Burgum attributes concerns about AI/data center impact on rates to “climate extremists” spinning false narratives.
• Quote:

  “It’s only people opposed for other reasons, including climate extremists ... With the right policies, [energy rates] will stay the same or go down.” (04:30 - Burgum)

4. The ‘AI Arms Race’: Power, Productivity, and America’s Future

• AI & Electricity:
  • The new geopolitical race isn’t just digital: it’s about who can generate and harness the most electricity to fuel AI advances (05:14).
• Investment Flows:
  • Countries and states with “ample, affordable, reliable, and secure power” will win capital and innovation.
• Physical AI & Productivity:
  • AI is positioned as the “greatest productivity increase humanity has ever seen,” with applications from healthcare to education.
• Quote:

  “AI will be the greatest productivity increase that humanity has ever seen. It really is an extension of human capability.” (05:52 - Burgum)

• Skepticism About ‘Energy Transition’:
  • Burgum calls the shutdown of baseload power for intermittent, foreign energy “energy fantasy.”
• Quote:

  “The way we do that is generate more power. Energy addition. There is no such thing as energy transition ... President Trump’s focused on energy reality.” (06:23 - Burgum)

5. Interior Department: Assets and Outreach

• Massive Federal Assets:
  • The Interior manages 500 million acres of land, 700 million acres of subsurface resources, and 3 billion offshore (06:55).
• Cabinet Outreach:
  • Burgum will travel to western states to communicate energy policy and economic priorities, especially in areas rich in federal land and resources.
• Economic Optimism:
  • Trump’s first year marked as a “180-degree turnaround” with claims of lower inflation, lower rates, rising incomes, and a move toward a “new golden age of abundance.”
• Quote:

  “We are entering a new golden age of abundance ... The next year going forward could be nothing short of an economic miracle.” (07:44 - Burgum)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Who would have known ... you’re going to get an opportunity to be present for the Medal of Honor being delivered twice.” (01:36 - Burgum)
• “You can take a kilowatt of electricity and turn it into intelligence ... his policy is going to work for both winning the arms race and for keeping electricity affordable for Americans.” (03:27 - Burgum)
• “It’s what follows that advanced manufacturing, the physical AI ... whether it’s curing cancer, ... a tutor for every school kid, or solving the most complex problems.” (05:45 - Burgum)
• “The Department of Interior has got the largest balance sheet in the world ... which represents a huge energy component mix for our country.” (07:06 - Burgum)

---

Important Timestamps

• 01:26 – Burgum assesses the President’s speech and two Medal of Honor stories
• 02:38 – National Energy Dominance Council and data center energy strategy
• 03:58 – NIMBY, utility rates, and North Dakota data center example
• 05:14 – The energy–AI connection and global investment trends
• 06:55 – Interior Department’s assets and planned outreach
• 07:44 – Economic outlook and the promise of a “new golden age”

---

Tone & Style

Doug Burgum remains upbeat, optimistic, and unapologetically pro-energy expansion, speaking in broad, policy-focused terms. He defends current administration policies, expresses urgency about America’s global position in energy and AI, and deploys memorable soundbites that cast national policy in aspirational, competitive terms.

---

This summary captures the key insights and memorable exchanges for listeners interested in US energy strategy, AI’s role in geopolitics, and the Interior Department’s vision for America’s future.

Transcript

[Podcast Host/Announcer]

Support for the show comes from Public. Lately it feels like there are two types of investing platforms. Some are traditional brokerages that haven't changed much in decades and others feel less like investing and more like a game. Public is positioned differently. It's an investing platform for people who are serious about building their wealth on public. You can build a portfolio of stocks, options, bonds, crypto without all the bugs or the confetti. Retirement accounts. Yep. High yield cash. Yes again. They even have direct indexing. Public has modern design, powerful tools and customer support that actually helps go to public.com market and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com market ad paid for by Public Holdings Brokerage services by public investing member FINRA SIPC advisory services by public advisors SEC registered advisor crypto services by ZeroHash. All investing involves risk of loss. See complete [e-mail] Disclosures

[Doug Burgum]

Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio News Joining us now, as

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

you can see if you're with US on Bloomberg TV is the Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum. Mr. Secretary, great to have you with us here on Bloomberg TV and Radio. I'd like to zero in on the president's speech with you from your vantage point. Record length and a lot to talk about. What did he propose for the year ahead that's important to your agency?

[Doug Burgum]

Well, let's just start at the top line. This is incredible, incredibly courageous forward looking talk and celebrating our 250th anniversary as a country going literally back to our founding. And then tonight, who would have known when you're coming to hear the speech, you're going to get an opportunity to be present for the Medal of Honor being delivered twice. One for heroics from a warrior from World War II and Korea War who's 100 years old. And then someone who just weeks ago was courageously led the charge as one of our helicopter pilots when they were arresting Maduro. So it spanned, it spanned the whole, the whole 250 years. But again, I would just say two takeaways. Peace around the world, prosperity for Americans, affordably affordability. President Trump's policies turning this country around in the last 12 months, a lot

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

of focus on energy as we expected this evening, as he reminded drill baby, drill, but also talked about what he would like to see. The ability of the big tech companies, the hyperscalers having the opportunity to, to bring in their own power plants, to put aside their data centers essentially off the grid. Is that something that the Interior Department is in the process of unlocking?

[Doug Burgum]

Well, absolutely, through the National Energy Dominance Council that runs out of the White House that President Trump has asked Secretary Chris Wright and I to lead. Secretary of Energy. We're working hard to make sure that we can do this, have this behind the meter capability, byop, bring your own power, because we need power. And this is about energy addition. There is no energy transition. President Trump understands that we've got to have energy abundance. We got to be able to sell energy to our friends and allies, including those that have been dependent on our adversaries. I mean, if you're getting energy from Iran or Russia and they're funding terrorism or wars, I mean, we can stop wars and stop terrorism by having energy abundance from the US but enough abundance that we can keep prices for energy here at home low even with the demand increase, so that we can win the arms race against China. Which part of that race is who can generate the most electricity? Because this is the first time in history you can take a kilowatt of electricity and turn it into intelligence. President Trump understands that his policy is going to work for both winning the arms race and for keeping electricity affordable for Americans.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

There's so much there. Do you worry about some of the concern that people have expressed about data centers, the NIMBY concerns, the worry about their electricity bills rising? Is this plan the way around that?

[Doug Burgum]

Absolutely. Because if it's off the grid, it's not putting any burden on the grid itself, and it's not putting any, any pressure on ratepayers. Matter of fact, in North Dakota, when I was still Governor There, just 15 months ago, we were completing a $1.2 billion data center, and the electricity rates were going to go down for all the people there because you're spreading the cost across a big industrial buyer in a rural area. So there are ways where you can add, add capability, add a big power user like that. If you do it in the right way, it actually brings power down. So it's only people that would be opposed to for other reasons, including the climate extremists, would come up with a story that says that artificial intelligence is going to raise your rates automatically. That's only with the wrong policies. With the right policies, they'll stay the same or go down.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

Really interesting. The audience is deeply concerned about the future of that air race, what it means for this country. The President said a bit about that this evening, but clearly it's one of many priorities that he's pursuing in this new year. What's the most important way to win that air race, even as the markets start to question some of the spending that we're seeing from these massive companies. They're the size of countries, Mr. Secretary.

[Doug Burgum]

Yes, well, but again, this is a recovery, new territory. And, and we're going to see incredible capital flows around the world. And those capital flows, record capital flows, are going to go to places that have ample, affordable, reliable and secure power. And that's going to be countries and it's going to be states within those countries. Within Europe, it may be certain countries as opposed to all of the EU. Secretary Chris Wright and I today met with 21 energy ministers from central and Eastern Europe. Again, the race is on. People that have sensible energy policies, that focus on affordable, reliable and secure energy are going to see a boom in investment going forward. Because it's not just the data center, it's what follows that advanced manufacturing, the physical AI, because AI will be the greatest productivity increase that humanity has ever seen. It really is an extension of human capability. Whether it's curing cancer, providing a tutor for every school kid in the world, or solving the most complex problems that we've ever faced. This is something that we need and America in the free world needs to make sure that we're competitive in this arms race. And the way we do that is generate more power. Energy addition. There is no such thing as energy transition. If you're shutting down 7 by 24 secure baseload and adding intermittent, unreliable foreign sourced energy, that's not, that's that, that, that's energy fantasy. President Trump's focused on energy reality.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

You're not only the Interior Secretary, but you're also a surrogate of the President. Typically after the State of the Union, we see cabinet secretaries fan out across the country to hit home to deliver the message that the President began tonight. Do you have travel plans? What do the next weeks and months look like for you?

[Doug Burgum]

Well, absolutely. And of course all the cabinet secretaries will tie it in with part of their job. So I'm going to be heading, heading out to western states where we have a large degree of federal land, a lot of intersection with those federal assets. We like to say the Department of Interior has got the largest balance sheet in the world, 500 million acres of land, 700 million acres of subsurface rich with minerals, 3 billion acres of offshore from American Samoa to the US Virgin Islands, Gulf of America, which represents a huge energy component mix for our country. But yeah, we'll be spanning out and delivering the message. And the message is one that's a forward looking prosperity. When you talk about the policies for your business. We're talking about cutting taxes, massively cutting regulations, record investments, incomes are up, inflation is down, interest rates are down, and affordability of housing is becoming more affordable. I mean, this is President Trump's right. We are entering a new golden age of abundance. This next, this first year was an amazing 180 degree turnaround. The next year going forward could be nothing short of an economic miracle.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

We'll be watching for you here in Washington on the campaign trail throughout the midterms. Mr. Secretary, thanks for joining us once again on Bloomberg TV and radio.

[Doug Burgum]

Thank you for being here.

[Podcast Host/Announcer]

Thank you. Foreign.

[iShares Advertiser]

From iShares, you get access to both monthly income and growth potential in one simple ETF. It's the best of both worlds. Discover Bali iShares Large Cap Premium Income Active ETF iShares the market is yours. Visit www.ishares.com to view perspectives for investment objectives, risks, fees, expenses and other information that you should read and consider carefully before investing. Risks include principal loss and the use of derivatives, which could increase risks and volatility. Monthly income is not guaranteed. Prepared by BlackRock Investments, LLC.