President-elect Donald Trump’s nominations for key Cabinet positions have left lawmakers and energy industry executives less certain than ever about who could lead certain key agencies.
“Shell shocked,” an oil industry lawyer said of Trump’s choice of former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) as attorney general. “I never saw it coming,” said an energy industry consultant when the president-elect picked New York’s backstabbing Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin to lead the EPA. “Who is that?” asked an oil trade association official after rumors emerged that Trump had interviewed oil industry executive Chris Wright for a possible position at the Energy Department.
Many in the industry had assumed that former EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler would step into his old job for a second Trump administration. They now even give up reading tea leaves.
“I never saw Zeldin go to the EPA,” said an industry consultant who was granted anonymity to discuss Trump’s transition efforts. “It exposes the folly of trying to guess Trump’s nominees.”
An oil industry lawyer who has spoken to people directly involved in the transition efforts and was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations said Zeldin’s appointment caught many people by surprise.
“So people have less trust in the communication chains” of Trump’s transition team, the person said.
The news that Trump chose Gaetz, the former Florida representative who had been investigated by the DOJ and Congress over drug and sex trafficking allegations, left industry officials “a little shocked,” this person added. POLITICO reported that Trump apparently made the decision on a whim while on his private plane.
For energy watchers, the biggest question remains whether North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum will join Trump’s new administration. The Republican, who rose to national prominence during his presidential primaries, has been portrayed as an “energy czar” or as secretary of the Interior, Energy or Commerce. Burgum visited Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, three industry sources familiar with the trip told POLITICO.
All of these roles are expected to be critical to Trump’s campaign promises to boost oil and gas production and halve U.S. energy costs.
But Burgum questions whether a czar role would have enough formal power, sources familiar with the discussions say.
North Dakota GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer and others who recently spoke with Burgum say the governor, a self-made software billionaire, could decide to run and not take a position in government if he doesn’t find the right person.
“That’s very possible, because one thing Doug Burgum doesn’t need is a job,” Cramer said, adding that he sensed Burgum was a “little bit” skeptical of a potential czar role and focused more on traditional Cabinet positions .
Trump has praised Burgum in the past, calling the governor “great” and “a high-quality person” after a Republican primary debate last year. A member of Trump’s transition team said they would “not comment on private meetings” with Burgum.
A spokesman for Burgum declined to comment, and Burgum remained coy when asked Thursday evening at Mar-a-Lago whether he had discussed the top job at Interior.
“There’s been a lot of discussions about a lot of different things and I think, like I said, nothing is true until you read it on Truth Social,” he said in a video posted to X by NBC News reporter Jillian Frankel.
A host of other candidates have been floated as potential heads of Trump’s Energy and Interior departments.
“We’re going to see people in Energy and Interior who are easy to confirm,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), who has had conversations with the Trump transition team about leading Interior but plans to to remain in the Senate. “With one exception, everyone he [Trump] has put forward so far is easy to confirm,” she added, referring to Gaetz.
For DOE, the agency responsible for maintaining the nation’s nuclear weapons, overseeing its 17 national research laboratories and approving natural gas exports, the names of several potential candidates are circulating among Trump’s transition staff, according to sources. sector and media reports.
They include former Deputy Secretary of Energy Mark Menezes, Republican Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt and Wright, the CEO of fracking services company Liberty Energy.
Ray Washburne, a Republican fundraiser whom Trump appointed to the Overseas Private Investment Corp. in 2017, also met with transition team co-chair Howard Lutnick about the top spot at the Energy Department, a person told POLITICO.
While Menezes and Hunt are well-known personalities in D.C., Wright is a relative unknown who is being pushed by Harold Hamm, another major Trump fundraiser and the executive chairman of oil company Continental Resources, according to people familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity . to discuss a private conversation.
Wright, whose campaign finance statements show he has raised money for Trump and the Republican National Committee, is one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to combat climate change, which he says poses no threat despite the scientific evidence . He has also said that the growth of solar, wind and other renewable energy sources does not represent a major change in energy production.
“There is no climate crisis, nor are we in the midst of an energy transition,” Wright said in a video uploaded to LinkedIn.
“We have seen no increase in the frequency or intensity of hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts or floods, despite the endless fear-mongering from the media, politicians and activists,” he said in the video. “The only thing resembling a climate change crisis is the regressive, opportunity-suppressing policies justified in the name of climate change.”
Other names of candidates circulating as potential Interior Department heads include former Deputy Secretary Katharine MacGregor, Republican Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma.
But Mullin told POLITICO on Thursday that he has not discussed with Trump or the transition team the possibility of him taking a position in the new administration.
Some people on the Trump transition team had also raised questions about the need to create a new position for the energy czar, people familiar with the talks said. But given the likely push from Republicans and energy industry players to streamline the federal government’s permitting process — and the potential need to have an intermediary to coordinate Trump’s energy policies with his potentially aggressive trade officials — the administration might want someone to coordinate among the EPA, DOE, Interior, and Commerce departments to promote policies to promote domestic energy production.
The Biden administration has deployed former Secretaries of State John Kerry and John Podesta in similar roles committed to fighting climate change.
“There are so many cross-cutting things going on with energy,” said Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.), who has communicated with the transition team on various roles in a second Trump administration, including Secretary of Transportation. .
“I actually think it’s advisable to have someone who can lead and help coordinate these actions within the administration, from the White House, and certainly from the governor. [Burgum] is a good candidate for that position.”
Betsy Woodruff Swan contributed to this report.
