Biden expected to name senior Interior official as acting No. 2

by Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk - 10/30/23 5:36 PM ET

Energy & Environment

The Big Story

Biden expected to name senior Interior official as acting No. 2

President Biden will name Interior Department official Laura Daniel-Davis to replace outgoing Deputy Interior Secretary Tommy Beaudreau, a source familiar with the White House’s thinking told The Hill.

Daniel-Davis, Biden’s nominee for assistant secretary for land and minerals management, has been nominated for the lands position three consecutive years.

The Senate Energy Committee deadlocked on the nomination in 2021 and 2022, and Chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said he would not advance the nomination in 2023, citing an Interior memo declining to reduce oil and gas extraction fees.

Daniel-Davis’ nomination was earlier reported by E&E News.

It’s unclear whether the Biden administration will nominate Daniel-Davis on a permanent basis, and she would almost certainly be a more controversial nominee than Beaudreau, who secured a supermajority of votes in both the committee and the full Senate.

Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.

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