President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for interior secretary told a Senate panel Thursday the U.S. can leverage development of fossil fuels and other energy sources to promote world peace and voiced concerns about the reliability of renewable power sources promoted under the Biden administration.

Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum described Trump’s aspiration to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” as a way to counter demand for fossil fuels from autocratic nations — Russia, Iran and Venezuela — that have fewer environmental safeguards.

Burgum was just one of Trump’s Cabinet nominees to get hearings on Thursday. The others include Treasury nominee Scott Bessent; Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, and Scott Turner, housing secretary. In his testimony, Burgum also said the U.S. needs to make more “baseload” electricity from coal and other sources as it seeks to power data centers for the nation’s tech industry. If confirmed, Burgum would become the chief steward of federal lands.

“This is something that is critical to our national security,” Burgum said. “Without baseload we’re going to lose the AI arms race to China.”

The Republican’s security claims were challenged by Hawaii Democrat Sen. Mazie Hirono who said military leaders have described global warming as a threat that could trigger instability and wars.

“For you to take a position that you are going to engage in actions that result in burning more fossil fuels is troubling,” Hirono said.

The Interior Department oversees a half-billion acres of federal land and vast areas offshore. Combined those areas produce about one-quarter of U.S. oil, or more than 1 billion barrels of crude annually, making them a flashpoint in the debate over how to address climate change.

President Joe Biden’s administration scaled back new oil and gas sales from public reserves as part of its efforts to curb climate change. Nevertheless, oil production hit record levels under the Democrat as high prices spurred drilling on lands that were previously leased.

Trump has vowed to increase drilling for oil and gas. And he’s been hostile to renewable energy including offshore wind. Burgum said Thursday that he wouldn’t try to convince his boss about its benefits.

Burgum is an ultra-wealthy software industry entrepreneur who grew up in a small North Dakota farming community working at his family’s grain elevator. The two-term governor of the oil-rich state endorsed Trump after ending his own 2024 presidential bid.

Lee Zeldin

Zeldin said Americans deserve a clean environment “without suffocating the economy” during his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, a department likely to play a central role in President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to slash federal regulations and promote oil and gas development.

“The American people elected President Trump last November in part due to serious concerns about upward economic mobility,” Zeldin said. “A big part of this will require building private sector collaboration to promote common sense, smart regulation.”

It was a mostly friendly hearing that occasionally grew pointed when Democrats questioned Zeldin about climate change asking what, if anything, Zeldin thinks should be done about a problem that has worsened floods and raised sea levels but that Trump has dismissed.

Scott Bessent

U.S. Treasury nominee Bessent faced sharp questions from both Democrats and Republicans on tax policy, tariffs, China, Russia sanctions and the future of an IRS tax filing system that Republicans have called to be cut.

And in turn, Bessent defended Trump’s economic policies and proposals.

Bessent sat in front of the Senate Finance Committee for his confirmation hearing, where he told lawmakers that the U.S. faces economic calamity if Congress does not renew provisions of Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. He also asserted the Federal Reserve should remain independent from the president’s influence and U.S. sanctions on Russian oil should be more aggressive.

But Democrats, including Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Michael Bennet of Colorado, expressed frustration that Trump’s promise to extend provisions of his 2017 tax cuts would benefit the wealthiest taxpayers and add to the growing national debt that has surpassed $36 trillion.

Bennet assailed Bessent for shedding “crocodile tears” over the debt and spending, while the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act drove up the debt. “There’s so many things I think you owe the American people after we have seen the catastrophe” from the tax cuts.

Bessent is a billionaire who, before becoming a Trump donor and adviser, donated to various Democratic causes in the early 2000s, notably Al Gore’s presidential run. He also worked for George Soros, a major supporter of Democrats.

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin also probed Bessent with questions about bringing national spending down to pre-pandemic levels.

Scott Turner

There were sports analogies galore but few policy specifics during Turner’s confirmation hearing on Thursday to become housing secretary.

Turner, a former NFL player, spoke before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs committee. The hearing focused on how Turner would address housing affordability and homelessness, reform HUD’s massive portfolio of housing subsidies, and tackle housing discrimination initiatives.

It marked some of Turner’s most detailed comments to date on the nation’s housing issues.

He also called out HUD’s recent report acknowledging an 18.1% increase in homelessness in the U.S., with 770,000 people who were counted as homeless in 2024.

“HUD, if you will, is failing at its most basic mission,” Turner said. “And that has to come to an end.”

Turner, the only Black person being nominated to Trump’s Cabinet, was also asked about his vision for HUD as the enforcer of the nation’s fair housing laws.

He committed to upholding fair housing laws, though he didn’t address how he may change or gut Obama- and Biden-era initiatives to curb housing discrimination.

He also sidestepped a question on how he’d speak up in favor of fair housing policies if Trump seeks to weaken any protections.