An interim staffer at the Interior Department has taken on a powerful energy role as the Trump administration issues a flurry of energy policy announcements.
Adam Suess is acting assistant secretary for lands and minerals management, a position that links agency leaders with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. Suess oversees key land- and energy-related agencies at Interior — from onshore activities at the Bureau of Land Management to offshore leases at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
In recent months, Suess has been quoted frequently in Interior news releases touting the administration’s streamlining of oil and gas permits and its moves to expedite critical mineral mine approvals. Interior did not respond to questions about Suess or make him available for an interview.
Assistant secretary positions at Interior are appointed slots that require Senate confirmation. President Donald Trump nominated Leslie Beyer, a longtime oil and gas industry professional, to the role in February. And Beyer was approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on May 8.
But appointments can move slowly in the Senate, which could leave Suess in his interim role for months to come.
“Of all the assistant secretary positions, this is probably one of the key ones for land use and energy dominance,” said a former Interior official granted anonymity to speak candidly about department operations.
Beyer could not be reached for comment. The White House referred questions to Interior.
Who is Adam Suess?
Suess came to Interior in March from a post as vice president of government and external relations and counsel at REH Co., according to his LinkedIn page. He had started work at the company in 2019 when it operated under the Sinclair name.
Before that, Suess spent nearly three years as head of external and government affairs at Murphy USA, an Arkansas-based gasoline station and convenience store company, the LinkedIn profile showed.
“We know him to be a very smart and capable person,” said Frank Maisano, a senior principal at the law firm Bracewell, in an email. REH was a client of Bracewell’s while Suess worked there.
“He will be a great resource for this administration, Secretary Burgum and the Interior Department,” Maisano added.
A major oil and gas trade group said Suess has been behind important work at Interior.
“Acting Assistant Secretary Adam Suess has taken critical steps to open access to future oil and natural gas development, and we look forward to working with the Department of Interior to continue building on this progress,” said Charlotte Law, a spokesperson for the American Petroleum Institute, in an emailed statement.
It is unclear what role Suess might play at Interior if Beyer is confirmed as assistant secretary. A spokesperson for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee did not respond to questions about the potential timing of Beyer’s confirmation vote.
What has Suess been saying?
During his first three months at Interior, Suess’ handiwork has been intertwined with Trump’s “energy dominance” push. Suess has signed directives authorizing Interior agencies to significantly expedite processing of environmental, endangered species and historical reviews — citing Trump’s declaration of a national energy “emergency.”
Suess has also been quoted in at least 11 Interior news releases, such as highlighting expansions to oil and gas leasing, mine permit fast-tracking, and efforts to boost a waning coal industry.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are ending the unnecessary delays and bureaucratic roadblocks that have held back American energy production for too long,” Suess said in one May news release.
Earlier this month, he said in a statement that Interior was “cutting red tape and restoring commonsense policies that ensure responsible development and good stewardship of our public lands.”
What did he do in the private sector?
Suess was the senior attorney at REH during part of a protracted legal battle with EPA over the agency’s renewable fuel standard. The standard requires transportation fuel to be mixed with ethanol or other plant-derived fuels or for producers to buy credits from other companies that are blending more than required.
A refinery in Wyoming owned in 2018 by REH applied for an exemption to that rule, which EPA allows for small refineries that assert disproportionate economic hardship from abiding by the requirement. EPA denied that request in 2019 and did so again three years later.
The company followed up with a lawsuit against EPA, which eventually resulted in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit partly siding with a group of oil refineries while tossing out EPA’s latest exemption denials but keeping in place the 2019 denial.
As recently as September 2024, Suess wrote a letter to EPA asking for the agency to again reconsider its denial of the exemption.
Since then, a court dispute between REH and EPA has been on hold while EPA reconsiders whether to exempt the refinery from the renewable fuel standard. REH also joined another case involving a number of refineries before the D.C. Circuit, which ruled this month that EPA must revisit aspects of its required biofuel volumes.
On Monday, EPA declined to comment on active litigation.
“EPA’s review of the petition for reconsideration is ongoing, and the agency needs additional time to determine what action, if any, is necessary,” according to a joint court document REH and EPA filed on June 4.
Kate Klossner, a spokesperson for REH, confirmed Suess’ previous employment at the business but declined to comment further.
How does Suess’ current role intersect with renewable fuels?
Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said Suess’ role so far at Interior appears to be in step with what Burgum and the Trump administration want to see on energy policy.
“It’s not unusual in this administration for fossil fuel players to have jobs at Interior given the Trump ‘energy dominance’ agenda,” Hartl said. “Obviously all of these acting [officials] are very aggressively carrying out the agenda.”
The CBD is an environmental group that’s part of the consolidated D.C. Circuit case over the required biofuel volumes. The center brought the case over environmental concerns about the renewable fuel program, while refiners generally raised financial objections to blending in biofuels.
But Hartl said Interior’s role with the renewable fuels program is limited to Endangered Species Act compliance.
“His portfolio probably doesn’t intersect with the renewable fuels standard at all,” Hartl said of Suess.
EPA said in a statement Monday that the agency has not discussed the REH lawsuit “with anyone from the Department of the Interior.”
