Doug Burgum, Secretary of the Interior | All-In DC

**David Friedberg** (0:02)
We're here on the Celsius Galway in Sabine Pass, just outside of Beaumont, Texas, with the Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. The crew is giving us a tour. This is an amazing export facility, the largest in the United States, second largest in the world. We're going to talk with the Secretary in a minute about American Energy Independence and the role that this company, this facility and this process plays. So excited to have the conversation with the Secretary.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:37)
What did you think? Well, it was fantastic, but to be on a brand new ship like this is pretty special.
Brand spanking new, like this is the first cargo it's taking. This is like not even out of the showroom brand new.

**Doug Burgum** (0:50)
I mean, look at that, those are spotless.

**David Friedberg** (0:51)
Yeah. This was definitely coordinated for you. I have a suspicion. But it's beautiful.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:56)
I think they coordinated for you, David. I think they heard you were coming.

**David Friedberg** (0:59)
Doug, they were saying in 2008, this facility was basically bankrupt.

**Doug Burgum** (1:04)
Yes.

**David Friedberg** (1:04)
And this has been a development project since about 2012 And it went from practically nothing to the largest LNG exporter in the world.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:13)
In 13 years.

**David Friedberg** (1:13)
In 13 years.

**Doug Burgum** (1:14)
And prior to that, when it was originally built, because this is before the amazing miracle of the whole shale revolution in our country. Right.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:24)
And without that, this was being built as a LNG import facility.

**Doug Burgum** (1:29)
That was the original thing.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:30)
We're going to have to import LNG to America.

**David Friedberg** (1:33)
Right.

**Doug Burgum** (1:33)
Now LNG is the number two dollar export on the all-time list for the country.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:39)
It's the second most highest dollar value we export.

**Doug Burgum** (1:42)
We went from being like, oh, we're going to run out of oil and gas to today, we're energy independent on a net basis, and we're on our path towards becoming energy dominant.

**David Friedberg** (2:03)
We are giving people ground truth data to underwrite your own opinion. What did you guys think? That was fun.
Welcome to the All-In interview here today with Secretary Doug Burgum, the 55th Secretary of the Interior of the United States of America. We are here in beautiful Sabine Pass in Louisiana today at the Cheniere LNG facility. It's been an amazing tour this afternoon. It's a little bit windy, but it's still a beautiful afternoon. Thanks for joining me today, Doug.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:30)
David, it's great to be with you.

**Doug Burgum** (2:31)
Thank you for coming down and seeing this amazing facility.

**David Friedberg** (2:34)
So we just took a great tour here. Why were you here today and what are we checking out?

**Doug Burgum** (2:38)
Well, I think President Trump, one of his core goals, if we talk about energy dominance, which is beyond energy independence, it's not just a slogan. It's really about how do we have the power to power AI in America? How do we power the remanufacturing in America? And then how do we sell energy to our friends and allies so that they don't have to buy it from our adversaries? And what you and I had a chance to see today is the largest LNG export facility in America, the second largest in the world.

**David Friedberg** (3:05)
Yeah, I was struck. I didn't really realize how quickly this facility grew up just about a dozen years ago. There was nothing really going on here. And now it's the second largest export facility of methane in the world. And methane is seeing a massive surgence around the world because it has a lower carbon footprint. There's demand, it's transportable. So there's a lot of reasons why there's a massive growing market for liquefied natural gas or methane.

**Doug Burgum** (3:31)
Absolutely. And part of the amazing energy transformation that I think is not fully appreciated by most Americans is when this plant began in the early 2000s, it was meant to be an LNG import facility. America was running out of oil and gas. And they said, wait, we've got to be ready to start importing it just to meet our needs. Well, along comes the shale gas revolution, again, driven by technology, that technology of horizontal drilling, that ability to fractionate rock and get oil and gas out of places that people thought was just impossible that we would ever be retrieving those resources from those hard rock shale locations. And so then this thing, after the financial crisis, turned around and began its life as an export facility. And now, as you say, the only one larger in the world is in the Middle East.