Former Trump administration officials and allies of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead EPA have popped up in that agency’s online staff directory as political appointees.
Those officials, a mix of senior EPA aides from Trump’s first term and staffers with ties to EPA nominee Lee Zeldin, are on the team of Trump appointees who have been dispatched to that agency, two people familiar with the transition told POLITICO’s E&E News.
The listings in EPA’s staff directory come as Trump prepares to take office Monday and fill out some 4,000 political appointments across the government. The incoming administration has been secretive about the personnel working on the transition and preparing to serve as Trump political appointees in the new administration.
EPA referred questions about political appointees to the Trump transition team. The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment.
But it appears as though some former Zeldin staffers and former Trump officials have officially signed up to work at the agency.
Among the names of Trump first-term appointees listed in the EPA staff directory is Nancy Beck, who served as principal deputy assistant administrator for EPA’s chemicals office during Trump’s first administration. Beck declined to comment for this story.
Justin Schwab, who served as EPA’s deputy general counsel during the Trump administration, is also listed in the agency’s staff directory as a political appointee.
Other former Trump officials listed in the EPA directory: Steven Cook, who served as deputy assistant administrator for EPA’s waste office, and Lynn Dekleva, who served as associate deputy assistant administrator for new chemicals.
The EPA political appointees also include Alexander Dominguez, who served as an adviser for EPA’s air office in Trump’s first term; Catherine Paige Hanson, who was an EPA financial adviser under Trump; Jessica Kramer, who worked in the Trump-era EPA water office; Walter Scott Mason, who was the director for EPA’s American Indian Environmental Office under Trump; William Chad McIntosh, who led EPA’s Office of International and Tribal Affairs; and Victoria Tran, who served as a policy adviser in EPA’s enforcement and compliance office under Trump.
Travis Voyles — who served in Trump’s EPA before he became Virginia’s secretary of natural and historic resources under Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) — is also among those now listed as an EPA appointee.
Aaron Szabo, who served as senior counsel for the White House Council on Environmental Quality and senior policy adviser at the Office of Management and Budget, is also listed on EPA’s directory.
As Zeldin awaits Senate confirmation to become EPA’s administrator, his staffers and allies also appear in the EPA staff directory as political appointees.
They include Eric Amidon, who worked for Zeldin in various positions over the past decade, including as Zeldin’s congressional chief of staff. Additional Zeldin allies listed in the staff directory include Thomas Corlett, who worked on Zeldin’s 2022 campaign for governor, and Zeldin communications aide Daniel Gall.
One person familiar with the transition confirmed that Amidon, Corlett and Gall were part of Trump’s incoming EPA team. A second person familiar with the transition said that Jaide Barja, who served as a legislative assistant in Zeldin’s congressional office and appears in the directory, is also on the Trump team.