President-elect Donald Trump is expected to soon announce candidates for some of the most important energy and environment jobs in Washington.
Trump has already named his nominees for the leaders of EPA and the Interior and Energy departments. With his Cabinet picks in place, attention is shifting to lower-level appointments inside key government agencies, including deputies, senior policy posts that are subject to Senate confirmation and chiefs of staff.
The president-elect announced his selections for top jobs in his second term at a rapid clip, and insiders in the energy and environment arena expect to soon see announcements for deputies.
Those roles are always important in keeping agencies running and putting a president’s agenda into place, but they could have even more sway in a second Trump administration where many of the Cabinet nominees are newcomers to the executive branch.
Trump’s first tranche of deputies at EPA, Interior and DOE were all elevated to become their agencies’ bosses by the end of that administration. That’s not always the case, but it’s one of the reasons Trump’s choices for the second-in-command at those agencies are being closely watched this time around.
“The deputy secretaries are as important as the Cabinet secretary because they do the day-to-day making sure that things are done the way the White House wants them done,” said Ray LaHood, who served as Transportation secretary during the Obama administration.
“Those people need to be knowledgeable about the departments they’re working in, and those people need to have the kind of professional skills to provide the leadership to the professional staff that’s going to be carrying out the president’s agenda,” LaHood said.
Here are some of the names being floated for senior jobs at Interior, EPA and DOE:
Interior
North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum is Trump’s nominee to lead the Interior Department and to serve in a newly created role coordinating energy policy from the White House.
Names being floated for Burgum’s top officials, including deputy or chief of staff, include former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who has been involved in managing the Interior Department transition. Bernhardt is a Trump loyalist who boasts deep experience at the sprawling department. But it’s unclear if he is open to a supportive role or looking outside the agency for a more commanding post in the administration.
Another potential second-in-command for Burgum is Kate MacGregor, who helped shepherd Trump’s energy policy as deputy chief of staff and later deputy secretary during the first Trump administration. She is a popular choice among former Interior officials of the Trump administration and could help Burgum — an Interior newcomer — find his footing. She is currently vice president of environmental services at NextEra Energy.
Interior solicitors from the first Trump administration are also potential repeat players at Burgum’s department, including former top Interior lawyer Daniel Jorjani, who often crafted Trump administration legal strategies for energy, wildlife and public land issues.
Former Trump Interior solicitor Hubbel Relat could also be in the running. Relat was investigated in 2020 by Interior’s Office of Inspector General for slow-walking the release of public records related to then-Deputy Secretary Bernhardt ahead of Bernhardt’s 2019 secretarial confirmation hearing. OIG did not fault Relat, though Democrats criticized the records delay as political interference.
EPA
Former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin (R) may want to hire a mix of policy experts and his former staffers if he’s confirmed as Trump’s EPA administrator.
Andrew Wheeler, who last headed up EPA for Trump, has been mentioned as a possible deputy to Zeldin. It’s unclear whether Wheeler would want to return to the deputy slot, which would be a demotion after he served as the agency’s deputy and then its leader.
Travis Voyles, another former Trump EPA official and Virginia’s secretary of natural and historic resources, could be in line for a top job, including as EPA deputy administrator.
Eric Amidon, who served as Zeldin’s chief of staff on Capitol Hill and managed the congressman’s 2022 gubernatorial campaign, is mentioned as a possible EPA chief of staff.
Other names in the mix for that position include Mandy Gunasekara, who held that role in the last Trump administration, and Troy Lyons, who once led the agency’s congressional and intergovernmental relations office.
Voyles and Aaron Szabo, previously senior counsel for the White House Council on Environmental Quality and senior policy adviser at the Office of Management and Budget, are seen as potential heads of EPA’s air office.
Jessica Kramer, who served in the Trump EPA’s water office and is now at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, has been mentioned as a possible EPA assistant administrator for water.
Charlotte Bertrand, once an EPA career official now at NASA, could be chosen to lead the agency’s chemicals office.
David Fotouhi and Justin Schwab, both former senior lawyers at the last Trump EPA, are seen as contenders for general counsel for the agency.
DOE
Former Trump DOE officials could return for senior posts under Chris Wright, an energy executive and Trump’s nominee to lead the department.
Paul Dabbar, who was the department’s undersecretary for science during Trump’s first term, is viewed as a possible contender for deputy secretary.
Daniel Simmons, former assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy, and former Deputy Secretary Mark Menezes are also mentioned as possible hires for Trump’s second-term Energy Department.
