Lets play the rumors game. Who will Biden chose for top enviro positions once Trump stops ‘winning’ and departs?
President-elect Joe Biden waves as he departs after Mass Sunday in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
By Dino Grandoni with Alexandra Ellerbeck, Washington Post’s The Energy 202 blog Unwinding President Trump’s rollbacks of anti-pollution rules is going to take a lot of work. And much of it is going to fall on whomever Joe Biden chooses as his main deputies on environmental issues. Just a week after victory and without a formal concession of defeat from Trump, the president-elect is forging ahead with building a Cabinet that will have to contend with multiple crises at once — including climate change. Biden must balance many considerations. He has promised to assemble a diverse Cabinet — one that both racially reflects the country itself and that satisfies the progressive and moderate wings of the Democratic Party. And crucially, many of the Democrat’s high-level choices must be approved by a sharply divided Senate. Democrats must win two runoff elections in Georgia in January to gain control of the chamber. Otherwise, Republicans will retain a thin Senate majority that may prove to be a roadblock for Biden appointments seen as too left-leaning. Caveats abound: The transition team itself is tight-lipped about the process, and any individual could be pulled from or put into consideration at any moment. The names below emerged as possible picks in conversations my colleagues Juliet Eilperin, Steven Mufson and I have had in recent weeks with those in Democratic circles who have worked on energy and environmental issues. Environmental Protection Agency  California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) Mary Nichols: Over the past four years, the California Air Resources Board head has been central to the state’s fight with the Trump administration over environmental rollbacks. When the EPA undid tougher air pollution rules for new cars implemented under President Barack Obama, Nichols helped forge an agreement with four major automakers to maintain the more-stringent standards in California. During her 13-year tenure running the California agency, she has helped put in place the state’s cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gas emissions. Collin O’Mara: Unlike the leaders of other some environmental groups, O’Mara, head of the National Wildlife Federation, has worked with both Democrats and Republicans to advance habitat conservation efforts in Congress. He also, crucially, has ties to Biden’s home state; O’Mara is said to have been the nation’s youngest state Cabinet official in 2009 when he ran the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. That happens to be same Cabinet in which Biden’s late son Beau served as attorney general. Mustafa Santiago Ali: Also an executive at the National Wildlife Federation, Ali made headlines shortly after Trump took office for resigning from his post as an EPA assistant associate administrator. He left with more than two decades of experience at the EPA, having worked in both Democratic and Republican administrations and helped create the agency’s environmental justice office in the early 1990s. Environmentalists say picking him makes sense for an administration aiming to tackle the disproportionate impact poor and minority communities face from air and water pollution. Heather McTeer Toney: Besides running the EPA’s Southeast office under Obama, she was also the first female and African-American mayor of Greenville, Miss. Now a senior director at the Moms Clean Air Force, she has spoken out against the Trump administration’s rejection of stricter air quality standards during the pandemic in which the coronavirus attacks the lungs. Richard Revesz: The New York University law professor is considered one of the foremost legal minds in environmental law. Originally from Argentina, he has spent most of his career in academia. But he has managing experience, having served as dean of the NYU law school from 2002 to 2013. Daniel Esty: Though now an academic with appointments at Yale’s forestry, law and business schools, Esty once served as commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. There he helped launch a first-in-the-nation “green bank” for promoting clean energy. Biden has proposed creating a similar institution nationwide. Other names that may be considered for high-level EPA positions are Ian Bowles, the well-regarded former head of energy and environmental affairs in Massachusetts, and Jared Blumenfeld, California’s secretary for environmental protection. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) may also be considered for a role at the EPA or elsewhere. But taking a job in the federal government would mean he would have to leave the West Coast’s Washington — where he was just reelected to a third term. Read on for speculation about Energy and Interior candidates If you liked this post you’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation. |
