Meet the head of Trump’s EPA transition team

By Jean Chemnick | 01/14/2025 07:03 AM EST

Anne Idsal Austin played a role in easing regulations on the fossil fuel industry during her time at the agency in Trump’s first term.

Anne Idsal Austin served as acting head of EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation at the end of the first Trump administration.

Anne Idsal Austin served as acting head of EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation at the end of the first Trump administration. Francis Chung/POLITICO; Linkedin

President-elect Donald Trump’s EPA transition is being helmed by a young Texas lawyer who played a key role in relaxing fossil fuels rules for climate and air quality during Trump’s first term in office.

Anne Idsal Austin, who served as acting head of EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation at the end of Trump’s first administration, is heading up EPA preparations for Trump’s second term, according to four people granted anonymity to discuss the transition. The Trump transition team has not disclosed transition personnel, and neither it nor Austin responded to inquiries from POLITICO’s E&E News.

The so-called landing team she heads is charged with laying the foundation for his second-term agenda. That’ll include dismantling President Joe Biden’s climate and air quality standards and pulling back any unspent climate law funding — even though Biden’s EPA said Monday that the overwhelming majority of EPA’s $41.5 billion from the climate law is now formally obligated and out of reach of the new administration.

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During her time as acting EPA air chief in the first Trump administration, Austin shepherded key air and climate rules across the finish line after the departure of assistant administrator and veteran industry attorney Bill Wehrum in June 2019.

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