Could the junior senator from Wyoming step down to be the Secretary of the Interior under President-elect Trump’s second term?
Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) is listed with other prominent Republicans as a possible pick to head up the Department of the Interior. Lummis’ office wouldn’t comment on the possibility of her being picked by Trump to lead the Department of the Interior, according to Cowboy State Daily.
Others being considered to head the Interior Department in the second Trump administration are Adam Paul Laxalt, the former attorney general of Nevada; Senator Mike Lee of Utah; and Kate MacGregor, who served as the deputy interior secretary in the first term.
Trump’s Energy Plan v. Biden’s Plan
As the newly-elected president gears up his new staff and appoints people, his team is already working on radically altering the Biden-Harris Administration’s view and role of what energy sources will take priority for the next four years.
President Biden has made renewable energy like wind and solar a top focus during his tenure in the White House, seeking to ensure that “clean energy” replaces fossil fuels like natural gas, oil, and petroleum.
For decades, Wyoming has been a state that produced energy using coal, gas, and oil. In 2023, Wyoming was the eighth-largest crude oil producer in the country, accounting for 2% of the total U.S. output. In 2022, Wyoming was the second-largest producer of oil on federal lands.
But as the Biden-Harris Administration enacted plans to cut back (and in some cases, eliminate) the fossil fuel industries, like the executive order Biden signed back in 2021 that would “reduce emissions across federal operations, invest in American clean energy industries and manufacturing, and create clean, healthy, and resilient communities.”
Wyoming elected officials have reacted quickly and given their full-throated distaste for President’s Biden plans to move the country away from the fossil fuel industry, with Governor Mark Gordon, Senators John Barrasso and Lummis, as well as Representative Harriet Hageman have all been keen on attacking Biden-Harris energy policies.
The Wyoming governor actually implored the President to “tear up your energy policy” during his State of the State Address in 2022.
“Stopping the exploration and production of federal oil, gas and coal means that our state bears a disproportionate burden of reduced royalties, reduced severance taxes, and reduced economic benefit. And for what?” Governor Mark Gordon added during the SOS speech.
The governor and other GOP politicians have pointed out that Biden’s Climate Change Policies, shifting the nation away from fossil fuels, caused inflation to soar and increase our reliance on other countries, like Russia, on importing more oil, making America more dependent on OPEC.
Senator Lummis hasn’t been shy in opposing Biden’s policies, claiming that the President’s energy policies are an “attack” on Wyoming. She also pointed out that Biden’s New Green Deal, which called for moving away from fossil fuels by closing gas and coal-fired plants, would decrease the production of electricity by more than half for the country.
“President Biden’s Green New Deal inspired rules appear designed to force the closure of Wyoming power plants with no plan to replace the energy currently being produced. This attack on Wyoming energy undermines our way of life by jeopardizing jobs and revenue for our state and local governments. Forcing the closure of gas and coal-fired plants that account for 60% of electricity generated across the country, while increasing demand by 30% through an electric vehicle mandate is not only unrealistic but dangerous. I will be working with my colleagues to overturn this disastrous set of regulations and protect Wyoming energy workers who power this country.”
President-elect Trump was loudly and repeatedly describing on the campaign trail what steps he will take under his administration to make the U.S. less energy-independent on other country, including repeating the mantra: “Drill, baby, drill.”
Trump’s transition team, just days after his winning the election, is already forming his energy and environment agenda. He has tapped two seasoned former cabinet leaders and fossil fuel lobbyists to dramatically reshape the agencies charged with protecting the nation’s air, water, climate and public lands, according to six people familiar with the matter, according to the NY Times.
David Bernhardt, a former oil lobbyist who headed the Interior Department in the first Trump administration, and Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist who ran the Environmental Protection Agency are both familiar with Trump’s agenda. Both are Washington insiders who have years of experience in dismantling federal environmental protections.
History of the Department of the Interior
The idea of setting up a separate department to handle domestic matters was put forward on numerous occasions. It wasn’t until March 3, 1849, the last day of the 30th Congress, that a bill was passed to create the Department of the Interior to take charge of the Nation’s internal affairs:
The Interior Department had a wide range of responsibilities when first created in 1849: the construction of the national capital’s water system, the colonization of freed slaves in Haiti, exploration of western wilderness, oversight of the District of Columbia jail, regulation of territorial governments, management of hospitals and universities, management of public parks, and the basic responsibilities for Indians, public lands, patents, and pensions. In one way or another all of these had to do with the internal development of the Nation or the welfare of its people.
Part of Trump’s energy policies will be enacted from the Department of the Interior due to the fact that the Department has evolved from when it was created to include the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources , including fossil fuel.
The Department also administers programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, territorial affairs, and insular areas of the United States, as well as programs related to historic preservation. About 75% of federal public land is managed by the department, with most of the remainder managed by the Department of Agriculture‘s Forest Service.
