Net Worth: $16 billion (Forbes, 4/10/26)
Who is Harold Hamm?
- Harold Hamm is the founder and Chairman of Continental Resources, a prolific fracker in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale.
- Hamm was a major campaign donor to the 2024 Trump campaign, personally contributing $4.3 million to Trump-aligned PACs and helping to raise money from the O&G industry. Hamm organized an infamous meeting at Mar-a-Lago between Trump and oil industry executives where Trump asked for $1 billion in campaign contributions while promising to roll back environmental regulations.
- Before the 2024 election, the Washington Post reported on Hamm’s fundraising and his demands of a second Trump administration, including “opening up more federal lands to drilling, easing the Endangered Species Act and curbing numerous regulations at the Environmental Protection Agency” and urging Trump to choose Doug Burgum as vice president.
- Before the 2024 election, the Washington Post reported on Hamm’s fundraising and his demands of a second Trump administration, including “opening up more federal lands to drilling, easing the Endangered Species Act and curbing numerous regulations at the Environmental Protection Agency” and urging Trump to choose Doug Burgum as vice president.
- In 2024, ProPublica reported that Hamm’s company, Continental Resources, opted out of Oklahoma’s voluntary fund to clean up orphaned oil wells. By opting out, Continental Resources received nearly $1.6 million over 7 years in refunds from the state.
- Created in 1993 by the Oklahoma state Legislature, The Oklahoma Energy Resource Board collects a 0.1% assessment on oil and gas production. It then uses those collected funds to restore land contaminated by leaks and spills, and removing discarded drilling infrastructure.
- Since 1993, $163 million has been collected and used to restore more than 20,000 sites.
- Since 1993, $163 million has been collected and used to restore more than 20,000 sites.
- 76 oil companies in Oklahoma opted out, resulting in $11 million returned to the companies that could have cleaned up 1,500 orphaned wells.
- Created in 1993 by the Oklahoma state Legislature, The Oklahoma Energy Resource Board collects a 0.1% assessment on oil and gas production. It then uses those collected funds to restore land contaminated by leaks and spills, and removing discarded drilling infrastructure.
- From 2006-2013, there were 11 blowouts at oil wells operated by Continental Resources in North Dakota, resulting in hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil and wastewater spilled. In one incident, three contract workers were severely burned.
- In all, Continental reported 937 spills and environmental incidents and 1.6 million gallons of spillage over the 7-year period, more than any other oil company in the North Dakota.
- In May 2025, a pipeline failure at a Continental Resources facility in northwest North Dakota resulted in 3.1 million gallons of produced water contaminating a tributary in the area.
- Produced water is a waste byproduct of oil production that can be destructive to land and plant life.
- Produced water is a waste byproduct of oil production that can be destructive to land and plant life.
- In January 2026, a pipeline leak in Bowman County, ND, released over 2,200 gallons of produced water and 84 gallons of crude oil into a nearby rangeland drainage and stock pond.
- In all, Continental reported 937 spills and environmental incidents and 1.6 million gallons of spillage over the 7-year period, more than any other oil company in the North Dakota.
How is Harold Hamm benefiting from the Trump administration?
- The Trump administration’s overall energy policy has proven to be a boon to Hamm and Continental Resources. During the 2024 transition, Hamm led Trump’s energy policy transition team alongside Doug Burgum. Among the policies discussed was the repeal of Biden’s $7,500 consumer tax credit for electric vehicles.
- The appointment of Doug Burgum to lead the Interior Department is perhaps Trump’s greatest gift to Harold Hamm and Continental Resources. As Interior Secretary, Burgum accepted an oil-industry report that claimed oil drilling would not affect groundwater in Converse County, Wyoming, an area targeted for 5,000 oil wells by Continental and others.
- At an event hosted by Hamm in April 2025, Burgum announced that the Interior Department was gutting the review process for permits on federal lands, a process which sometimes takes years, to a maximum of 28 days. In August, DOI began to issue Continental dozens of new permits to drill in Converse County, Wyoming.
- At an event hosted by Hamm in April 2025, Burgum announced that the Interior Department was gutting the review process for permits on federal lands, a process which sometimes takes years, to a maximum of 28 days. In August, DOI began to issue Continental dozens of new permits to drill in Converse County, Wyoming.
- Hamm is a longtime benefactor to Burgum. Hamm donated to both of Burgum’s North Dakota gubernatorial campaigns, and donated $250,000 to Burgum’s Best of America PAC. Hamm also donated $50 million to Burgum’s planned Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota.
- As governor, Burgum backed a 2019 bill that gave oil and gas companies the right to use underground “pore space” to store CO2 without compensating landowners. The ND Supreme Court overturned the law.
- Burgum had a land deal with Continental Resources when he was ND governor, allowing the oil company to install wells on 200 acres of his land. Burgum’s family gets 19% of the revenue; from later 2022 into 2023, Burgum made up to $50,000 in royalties.
- As governor, Burgum backed a 2019 bill that gave oil and gas companies the right to use underground “pore space” to store CO2 without compensating landowners. The ND Supreme Court overturned the law.
- Hamm reportedly used his influence to position Chris Wright as nominee for the Energy Secretary. Wright was “longtime fossil fuel executive and a former director of an oil-industry lobbying group that Mr. Hamm co-founded”, and reportedly close to Hamm.
For more information, see the Revolving Door Project’s Billionaires in Trump World tracker.
Image Credit: “Harold Hamm 2012 Shankbone” by david_shankbone is licensed under CC BY 2.0.