The White House named Mike Boots acting director of its Council on Environmental Quality on Thursday.
Boots, the chief of staff at CEQ, will take the helm on Feb. 18, four days after current chief Nancy Sutley steps down.
{mosads}”Mike has been an integral part of every major environmental decision of the administration, often serving as key liaison between agencies and the White House senior staff,” said Taryn Tuss, CEQ spokeswoman, in an email.
“He helped develop the President’s Climate Action Plan and is as strong force behind ensuring agencies are on track to implement it.”
Boots also helped coordinate the administration’s work establishing new national monuments and restore the ecosystem off the Gulf Coast following the 2010 BP oil spill, Tuss said.
Before joining the White House in 2009 as the associate director of natural resources on the council, Boots was the vice president for sustainable markets at SeaWeb — a nonprofit conservation group — and served at the Environmental Protection Agency under the Clinton administration.