Biden's 'Climate Cabinet' Nominees

From today's Politico Morning Energy Newsletter, here is further info on nominees for Interior, EPA, Energy, CEQ, and National Climate Adviser: 

 

CLIMATE CABINET FILLED: President-elect Joe Biden will tap Rep. Deb Haaland for Interior, making her the first Native American Cabinet secretary in U.S. history, and Michael Regan, North Carolina's top environmental regulator, to be EPA administrator. The dual nominations round out the team that will lead Biden's effort to tackle climate change. 

They also mark big wins for progressives. Haaland, who is a member of New Mexico's Laguna Pueblo people, will play a critical role in meeting Biden's promises to move the federal government away from fossil fuels and restore environmental protections on public lands, POLITICO's Tyler Pager, Alex Thompson and Ben Lefebvre report , and her nomination represents a major outside voice to the Biden Cabinet, which up until Thursday had been dominated by former Obama officials.

"A voice like mine has never been a Cabinet secretary or at the head of the Department of Interior," Haaland tweeted. "Growing up in my mother's Pueblo household made me fierce. I'll be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land. I am honored and ready to serve."

Regan, who is a North Carolina environmental regulator, is also a nod to the party's progressive wing, which had pushed Biden's team to emphasize minority and poor communities facing threats from pollution, Tyler, Zack Colman and Alex Guillén report for POLITICO. If confirmed, Regan would be the second Black chief of EPA, the agency most central to carrying out Biden's climate change plans.

— Biden also confirmed Thursday he will nominate former Gov. Jennifer Granholm for Energy secretary; Brenda Mallory for chair of the Council on Environmental Quality; former EPA chief Gina McCarthy as national climate adviser and Ali Zaidi, as deputy national climate adviser. Earlier this week, Biden also said he would tap Pete Buttigieg for Transportation secretary.

"This brilliant, tested, trailblazing team will be ready on Day One to confront the existential threat of climate change with a unified national response rooted in science and equity," Biden said in a statement Thursday.

— The roster has environmentalists and climate change activists feeling optimistic, Zack, Ben, Alex, Eric Wolff and Anthony Adragna report this morning for Pros. "This is the climate and overall environmental dream team," said Christy Goldfuss, who heads the progressive Center for American Progress' energy and environment program. "If you look across the expertise, the vision and passion of this team, you have to be optimistic that we are going to make progress in addressing climate change.”

Even if the Senate remains under Republican control after next month's Georgia run-off election, Biden backers are confident the team will make major strides wielding their executive branch power.

"It's the Cabinet officials who have the legal authority," said Jody Freeman, director of Harvard Law School's Environmental and Energy Law Program and a former Obama White House adviser. "But what they can use is some help getting policies through a fairly bureaucratic White House. If you order this the right way, you can have a lot of success."

— For your radar: Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will officially introduce the climate and energy team at an event in Wilmington on Saturday.