President-Elect Donald Trump is just two months shy of moving into the White House, and part of his preparation includes finding people to lead federal government agencies—like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
While Trump has already chosen climate skeptic and director of the Center for Energy and Environment Myron Ebell to lead his EPA transition team, he hasn’t decided who will actually head the agency. Reuters is reporting, however, that Trump is considering two current energy lobbyists “who held leading roles there under Republican President George W. Bush.”
The two contenders are energy industry attorney Jeff Holmstead and lobbyist Mike Catanzaro. Both worked in the EPA during Bush’s two terms. Holmstead was assistant administrator for the agency’s Office of Air and Radiation from 2001 to 2005. He played a key role in rolling back clean air and climate change protections, according to Polluter Watch, a Greenpeace project that lists fossil fuel players.
Catanzaro was associate deputy administrator from 2005 to 2007. More recently, he served as the energy policy adviser to former Republican House Speaker John Boehner, another climate change denier.
Trump’s choices have struck many as ironic given that he advocated against lobbyists in government during his campaign. However, he also maintained that he had plans to cut the EPA. Last year, he said: “Environmental Protection [Agency], what they do is a disgrace. Every week they come out with new regulations.”
Reuters is reporting, according to their anonymous sources, that Trump may also choose Robert Grady, a venture capitalist who served under Bush’s father in 1989 to 1993, but Holmstead and Catanzaro are his top choices.