(Radio Iowa) – Governor Doug Burgum is campaigning in Iowa today after kicking off his long shot campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in his home state of North Dakota. The state produced a million barrels of oil a day in 2022 and Burgum, in the middle of his second term as North Dakota’s governor, says energy policy will be a focus of his campaign. “If we can start selling energy to our friends and allies instead of buying iu from our adversaries, that 180 degree switch is the thing that’s going to help kick start and drive the American economy,” Burgum says.

Burgum argues the U.S. needs to pursue an all-of-the-above energy strategy and he’s criticizing the Biden Administration’s quick shift to promoting electric vehicles. “If you want to get rid of liquid fuels in this country and do everything with a battery, then we’re just going to be trading dependence on OPEC…and then the next 70 years can be dependent on Sinopec and China,” Burgum says. The proposed route Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline that would run through Iowa ends in North Dakota, where the carbon would be permanently stored underground. The federal government is offering an 85 dollar tax credit for every metric ton of carbon that’s captured. Burgum says the subsidy makes sense.

“Internal combustion machine liquid fuels has to be part of this energy transition for decades and decades and the best way to do that if you care about CO2 is to decarbonize the CO2,” Burgum says, “and if you’re going to subsidize wind and solar, then the incentives for CO2 storage make a ton of sense for us to have a strong, truly independent energy in the United States.”

Burgum took office in North Dakota in the midst of protest over the Dakota Access pipeline, which ships crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois. He says the pipeline, which began operating six years ago, helped fuel America as the global market was rocked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Burgum says the Biden Administration has weaponized the E-P-A, which is conducting an environmental review of that pipeline, and he says that sends the wrong message.

“We need pipelines. It’s the safest and easiest way to transport any fuel and any liquids in this country. We don’t need them moving on trains. We don’t need those liquids moving down the highways. We need them moving through pipelines and America needs to figure out how to build essential infrastructure or we can just cede our leadership in the world and, again, just get all our batteries from China and get all our oil from the Middle East.”

Burgum, who will be visiting a farm implement dealership in Farley today (Thursday), supports the federal ethanol and biodiesel production mandates. “Absolutely, essentially, completely, totally,” Burgum says. “The Midwest is going to be the epicenter of sustainable aviation fuels for the world and we’re so well positioned with the great agricultural producers across the Midwest combined with the CO2 storage that we have in North Dakota and other places around the United States. So it’s absolutely critical.”

Burgum will also visit the Field of Dream in Dyersville today (Thursday).