President-elect Donald Trump has promised to overhaul U.S. energy policy, with an aim of maximizing the country’s already record-high oil and gas production by rolling back regulation and speeding up permitting.
Who will he choose to run the key departments and agencies to get this work done?
Here are some of the names being considered:
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Trump’s second Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum are among the people under consideration to lead the U.S. Department of Energy in the next administration, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Brouillette, who was a member of Louisiana’s Mineral and Energy Board from 2013 to 2016, earned a reputation as a bureaucrat who could accomplish policy goals without much drama, something Trump’s first administration valued after a start filled with scandals and lawsuits.
He stepped down last week as head of the Edison Electric Institute lobbying organization “so that I can spend my time engaging directly with world business and policy leaders” on “existential” energy challenges, he said in a statement at the time.
Burgum, meanwhile, runs a big oil drilling state and shares Trump’s goal of advancing drilling.
The Department of Energy handles a share of U.S. foreign energy diplomacy, administers the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, runs grant and loan programs to advance energy technologies, and oversees nuclear energy and weapons.
INTERIOR DEPARTMENT
Trump’s former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy are among the people being considered to run the Interior Department, which manages federal lands and waters and holds regular leasing auctions for energy development, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Like Brouillette, Bernhardt earned a reputation as a capable bureaucrat under Trump’s first administration. Dunleavy, meanwhile, shares an interest with Trump in expanding the oil and gas industry’s access to federal properties after President Joe Biden’s administration angered him by blocking permits to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Another potential name is Dan Eberhart, a Trump donor and CEO of oilfield services company Canary, LLC. He told Reuters he is interested in securing a role in the Trump administration, including possibly Deputy Secretary of the Interior Department or Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
Trump would look to reverse a slew of environmental policies administered by the EPA, including a rule curbing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and another slashing tailpipe emissions from the nation’s vehicle fleet.
Trump’s former EPA administrator, Andrew Wheeler, could be nominated to run the agency again, according to Scott Segal, a lobbyist at law firm Bracewell. It was not clear what other names might be under consideration for the agency.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici, Timothy Gardner, Nichola Groom, and Gram Slattery; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Daniel Wallis)