Jockeying for top energy and environment jobs in a second Trump administration is underway.
President-elect Donald Trump’s allies have been compiling resumes and vetting candidates behind the scenes for months. And now that Trump has won the White House, he’ll soon be in a position to appoint thousands of political appointees.
Trump has made it clear he’ll be relying on loyalists — including some former aides and some new additions to his orbit — to carry out his second-term agenda of slashing environmental rules and expanding fossil fuel production.
Trump announced the first public hire for his administration Thursday, naming Susie Wiles as his incoming chief of staff. Wiles, a longtime Florida political insider, served as a senior adviser to Trump’s 2024 campaign. She’ll have significant sway in the next administration’s policy moves and personnel choices.
Angling for top Trump jobs was happening even before the election, and it has kicked into high gear this week as the president-elect’s transition team accelerates its efforts to launch a new administration on Jan. 20, 2025.
Here are names in the mix for senior energy and environment posts in a second Trump administration, according to people familiar with transition discussions. Those people were granted anonymity to discuss personnel selections.
Interior Department
Leading the vast Interior Department has long been a coveted post in Washington, and it’s one that’s often sought by Western politicians and governors.
Several Western Republican governors’ names are being floated as contenders for the post under a second Trump administration, including North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a key Trump ally on the campaign trail. Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem are also viewed as possible candidates for Interior secretary.
David Bernhardt, who served as Interior’s secretary and deputy secretary during Trump’s first term, could return to his former role leading the department. Bernhardt is also viewed as a contender for a possible senior role elsewhere in the Trump White House or executive branch — potentially at the Office of Management and Budget or the Justice Department — if he doesn’t return to Interior.
Wyoming Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis and Trump’s former Interior Deputy Secretary Katharine MacGregor are seen as possible Interior leaders.
Other leadership roles within Interior will be up for grabs when the Trump administration takes office, including director of the National Park Service. Cam Sholly, the superintendent of Yellowstone National Park, is seen as a possible candidate for that role.
EPA
The incoming Trump EPA boss will be tasked with dismantling Biden-era environmental regulations and potentially downsizing the agency.
One often-named candidate for the job is Andrew Wheeler, who led the agency during Trump’s first term and could come back for another stint.
Mandy Gunasekara, who served as EPA chief of staff under Trump, could return to lead the agency. She was the lead author of the EPA section in the Project 2025 road map organized by the Heritage Foundation. The Trump transition team has signaled that it will be reluctant to hire conservatives affiliated with Project 2025, but some insiders suspect that will change after Trump’s win.
Aurelia Skipwith Giacometto, who led the Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service under Trump, has been floated as another possible EPA leader in Trump’s second term.
Energy Department
If he doesn’t land in another Cabinet position, Burgum is seen as a possible leader for the Energy Department. Trump has praised the North Dakota governor’s oil and gas credentials.
Other former Trump DOE officials who could make a comeback for senior posts include former Secretary Dan Brouillette; former Deputy Secretary Mark Menezes; Paul Dabbar, who was the department’s undersecretary for science; and Daniel Simmons, former assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy.
USDA
Two names floating around consistently for Trump’s Agriculture secretary are Ted McKinney, a former USDA undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, and Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.
Another possibility: Kip Tom, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Agencies for Food and Agriculture during the Trump administration.
One possible contender who’s seen as a long shot for the job is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The former Democrat said during the campaign that Trump promised to give him “control of the public health agencies, which are HHS and its subagencies, CDC, FDA, NIH and a few others … and then also the USDA.”
Reporters Heather Richards and Michael Doyle contributed.
