To:
Jackson, Ryan[jackson.ryan@epa.gov]
From: POLITICO Pro Energy
Sent: Tue 5/30/2017 9:47:04 AM
Subject: Morning Energy: World anxiously awaits Trump's final answer on Paris -- One EPA vacancy
with massive implications -- Zinke staffs up
By Anthony Adragna | 05/30/2017 05:42 AM EDT
With help from Alex Guillen and Esther Whieldon
IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN! President Donald Trump has built up the drama around whether the U.S. will stick with the landmark 2015 Paris climate change agreement as if it's an episode of "The Apprentice." He refused to endorse the pact at last weekend's G-7 gathering in Sicily, and tweeted that he would make a final call this week. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said on "Face the Nation" Sunday that the president remained "wide open" on the agreement, while Axios reported Trump has told confidants that he plans to withdraw from the pact, citing three people directly familiar with his thinking. Abandoning Paris would put the U.S. alone with Syria and Nicaragua as the only countries on Earth who did not officially join the deal.
Trump already sent a signal to the international community by refusing to join Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.K. in affirming a "strong commitment" to the Paris agreement in the G-7 statement released Saturday. "The United States of America is in the process of reviewing its policies on climate change and on the Paris Agreement and thus is not in a position to join the consensus on these topics," the leaders wrote. "Understanding this process, the Heads of State and of Government of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom and the Presidents of the European Council and of the European Commission reaffirm their strong commitment to swiftly implement the Paris Agreement, as previously stated at the Ise-Shima Summit."
Don't forget: Even if Trump decides to stay a part of the Paris agreement, he has made it abundantly clear that cutting greenhouse gas emissions will not be a priority for the federal government, as he seeks to revise or eliminate virtually every climate-motivated regulation former President Barack Obama put in place. And even the relative moderates within the White House have long acknowledged that the U.S. would only stick with the pact if they could get a better deal for U.S, coal and oil companies.
IMMINENT EPA SCIENCE VACANCY HAS HIGH SIGNIFICANCE: Amid the worries that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is sidelining independent scientific advisers, he apparently has done nothing to make sure that someone will be in charge of EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee after the term its current chair ends in September, Pro's Eric Wolff reports . Filling that CASAC post is a months-long process, and Pruitt already is getting heat for not reupping several members of the Board of Scientific Counselors, which advises the agency on research matters. Unlike that advisory board, which was established by an earlier administrator, Congress set strict requirements for the types of experts who must serve on CASAC, and charged the committee with evaluating the health risks of key air pollutants to guide EPA's regulations. Without Chair Ana Diez Roux of CASAC, who fills two roles required under the Clean Air Act, the panel "cannot function" in the words of one EPA source. "That process needs to have already
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started," the source said.
EPA declined to offer details on the CASAC nomination process, but an agency spokeswoman told Eric "there will be a concerted effort to assure diverse scientific perspectives on advisory panels and to look for additional ways to strengthen scientific review at EPA."
It's not just CASAC: Reshaping the scientific advisory boards has long-been atop the wish list of congressional Republicans and industry groups. Many now see an opportunities to get more industry-friendly perspectives onto panels like the Science Advisory Board and BOSC. "Past advisory groups have had too much representation from individuals who are experts in very narrow fields of study, without experience in integrating across multiple lines of evidence," Michael Honeycutt, chief toxicologist for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality who unsuccessfully pushed to get onto CASAC last year, told Eric.
WELCOME TO TUESDAY! Hope everyone had a safe and fun Memorial Day break! I'm your host Anthony Adragna, and I was honored to take part in the marriage of two dear friends in Birmingham, Ala.: Huddle host Heather Caygle and Pro Tax's Aaron Lorenzo. Montana state senator Pat Connell was first to identify that Adam Clayton Powell won a Supreme Court case to regain his congressional seat. For today: What congressman, colorfully nicknamed "Pork Barrel," was forced to resign for illegally selling alcohol during Prohibition? Send your tips, energy gossip and comments to aadragna@politico.com, or follow us on Twitter @AnthonyAdragna, @MomingJEnergy, and @POLITICOPro.
BEARS EARS COMMENTS ABOUND: More than 120,000 people weighed in on the Trump administration's review of recent monument designations by Friday's deadline to comment on the future of the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. Most of the comments were from individuals, although a number of industry and environmental groups, native tribes and lawmakers sounded off as well. Zinke has until June 10 to make a recommendation on Bears Ears. Comments on the review of other monuments designated since 1996 will be open through July 10.
Utah's Republican congressional delegation reiterated its call for Trump to rescind the Bears Ears monument, saying the state "has repeatedly fallen victim to overreaching use of the Antiquities Act -- a law that has become a tool of political advocacy rather than public interest." The Utah Mining Association said any protections applied to Bears Ears "should be kept to the smallest area possible" to allow BLM to "to fulfill their statutory mandate to manage federal public lands for multiple use."
Several tribes that initially proposed creating the monument, including the Hopi, Navajo and Ute, defended the need for the designation. "It would be a travesty to leave this landscape vulnerable to uranium and fossil-fuel mining, and excessive off-road vehicle use. Additionally, there has been ghastly looting and grave robbing that continues to this day," they said. The Sierra Club argued Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's review "appears designed to reach a predetermined outcome, namely the reduction or elimination of the Bears Ears National Monument designation." Zinke has insisted he is keeping an open mind in the process.
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ZINKE'S IN ALASKA! Zinke is in the midst of a nearly week-long trip around the Arctic Circle and he's in Anchorage today for a slew of events. They include a BBQ meet and greet with agency employees (followed by an all-hands meeting) and an Alaska Federation of Natives meeting. He visited Denali National Park on Memorial Day and also participated in a Byers Lake event on Sunday with Senate Energy Chairman Lisa Murkowski (pic).
And that comes after previous stops on the trip included Norway and Greenland. Senators participating in that delegation included Sens. John Cornyn, John Barrasso, Steve Paines and Heidi Heitkamp. Some pics of the crew in Alaska checking out pipelines here.
INTERIOR STAFFS UP! Zinke formally announced the addition of 19 new staffers to Interior on Friday, Pro's Esther Whieldon reports. Newly announced hires include Zinke's chief of staff, Scott Hommel, who served the same job in Zinke's congressional office; Natalie Davis, who will be special assistant to the secretary; Timothy Williams, Interior's new deputy director of external affairs; and Jason Funes, an assistant in the office of external affairs. A full list of the new people is available here.
MANCHIN VOWS TO 'EDUCATE' COHN ON COAL: Sen. Joe Manchin said he didn't know "what the hell happened" with Trump's top economic adviser Gary Cohn amid skeptical comments about the future of coal from Cohn in Europe last week. "Coal is much needed and it's going to continue to be," Manchin told Breitbart News.
MEETING SOUGHT OVER PASSAIC CLEANUP: Democratic Sens. Robert Menendez, Cory Booker and Chris Coons are questioning whether Maxus Energy Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Argentina's state-owned oil company YPF, filed bankruptcy as part of a strategy to avoid cleaning up the Passaic River. "After enduring decades of contamination, the community surrounding the Passaic River deserves full and comprehensive remediation and each responsible party should be held accountable to pay for it without further delay," they wrote. The senators sought a meeting to further discuss the issue.
GREENS REVIVE COAL LEASING LAWSUIT: Environmental groups on Friday revived a lawsuit in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals over the Interior Department's coal leasing program. The Western Organization of Resource Councils and Friends of the Earth in 2015 sued in an attempt to force Interior to update its environmental review of the program to include climate change-related effects. The suit was paused more than a year ago when the Obama administration issued its leasing moratorium, but the groups say the Trump administration's lifting of the moratorium means the lawsuit can now continue. Interior does not object to restarting the case, according to the green groups' filing. Zinke has continued with rest of the Obama-era review, but the suit could help pressure Interior to go further in its climate-related analysis than it might otherwise.
HALF-A-BENJAMIN FOR A TON OF CARBON: A team of leading economists has concluded that meeting the world's goals for curbing global warming requires a carbon dioxide price of $40-80 per ton by 2020 and $50-100 by 2030, POLITICO Europe's Sara Stefanini reports. The High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices was created at the United Nations' climate summit in Marrakech last year, and is made up of 13 economists from nine developed
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and developing countries.
SCHUMER HITS DEFENSE OVER CLEANUP LAG: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer hit the Defense Department for delaying cleaning up waste at Stewart Air National Guard base, POLITICO New York's Marie J. French reports. That base contaminated the water supply of Newburgh, New York, forcing the city of 30,000 switch water sources and residents to get blood tests for PFOS.
THIS IS A FUN RECESS TRIP! Rep. Mike Quigley, vice chairman of the Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition, heads to Rocky Mountain National Park today through Thursday where he'll meet with climate change researchers and National Park Service officials for a firsthand look at impacts. Your hashtag to follow along: #RepInTheRockies.
QUICK HITS
-- Tucson Electric Power halts energy-efficiency rebate for businesses. Tucson.com.
-- EPA's Pruitt: Agency is 'doing what it's supposed to do' at Osage pollution site. Tulsa World.
-- From coal to solar, India's energy landscape is almost too hard to keep up with. Quartz.
-- Standing Rock film festival centers around pipeline protest. AP.
-- Coal trains fewer as Appalachian railroads keep rolling. Denver Post.
-- U.S. may put emergency tariffs on solar imports. Reuters.
-- U.S. aid agency under scrutiny for loans in Chile. Reuters.
HAPPENING THIS WEEK
TUESDAY
12:30 p.m. -- "The Political Economy of Forests: REDD+, Good Governance and Land Rights," World Resources Institute, 10 G Street NE, Suite 800
WEDNESDAY
5:30 p.m. -- Women's Council on Energy and the Environment May Happy Hour, Penn Commons, 700 6th Street, NW
THURSDAY
6:00 p.m. -- "Energy Infrastructure and Cybersecurity," Leaders in Energy, 3100 Clarendon Blvd #200
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THAT'S ALL FOR ME!
To view online'. https://www.politicopro.com/tipsheets/morning-energy/201 7/05/world-anxiously-awaits-trumpsfinal-answer-on-paris-023046
Stories from POLITICO Pro
Leaders issue G7 declaration with US a holdout on climate change Back
By David M. Herszenhom | 05/27/2017 10:47 AM EDT
TAORMINA, Sicily -- Leaders of the G7, the world's most exclusive geopolitical club, issued their 2017 declaration Saturday, with U.S. President Donald Trump refusing to join his counterparts in pledging commitment to the 195-nation Paris accord on climate change.
The statement also included language on trade, which appeared to be a compromise between the new U.S. administration's skepticism about some current trade deals and the more pro-free trade views of other G7 members. On Russia, Trump went along with the group, maintaining a hard line on the conflict in Ukraine.
Trump, posting on Twitter, said he would make a decision on whether the U.S. would remain in the climate change accord next week, after he returns to Washington. The other six members of the G7 -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.K. -- reaffirmed "strong commitment" to the agreement, which Barack Obama signed in 2015.
While the declaration included remarkable language, highlighting that the U.S. stood apart, the other allies expressed some relief that Trump had not outright rejected the accord and said they remained hopeful he would come around
"The United States of America is in the process of reviewing its policies on climate change and on the Paris Agreement and thus is not in a position to join the consensus on these topics," the leaders wrote. "Understanding this process, the Heads of State and of Government of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom and the Presidents of the European Council and of the European Commission reaffirm their strong commitment to swiftly implement the Paris Agreement, as previously stated at the Ise-Shima Summit."
The declaration did include what appeared to be some softening of resistance by the U.S. on multilateral trade. Earlier this year, the U.S. had blocked traditional language in the G20 declaration about fighting "all forms" of protectionism.
While the "all forms" construction, which appeared in last year's G7 statement, was not revived, the new communique stated: "We reiterate our commitment to keep our markets open and to fight protectionism, while standing firm against all unfair trade practices."
The declaration, however, also included new language that acknowledged some drawbacks to
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trade. "At the same time, we acknowledge that trade has not always worked to the benefit of everyone. For this reason, we commit to adopting appropriate policies so that all firms and citizens can make the most of opportunities offered by the global economy."
On another crucial topic, the declaration retained language previously adopted by the G7 warning Russia that it could face additional punishment if the situation worsens in Ukraine.
While calling for Russia and Ukraine to work to implement the Minsk 2 peace agreement, the G7 leaders declared, "We also stand ready to take further restrictive measures in order to increase costs on Russia should its actions so require."
This article originally appeared on POLITICO Europe on May 13, 2017.
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Trump advisers want a better deal on Paris Back
By Andrew Restuccia and Josh Dawsey | 04/27/2017 07:34 PM EDT
President Donald Trump's senior advisers were unable to agree on whether the United States should remain in the Paris climate change pact during a meeting Thursday afternoon at the White House, two administration officials told POLITICO.
But those who attended the meeting said there is a growing consensus among the advisers that the United States can't stay in the deal unless it negotiates new terms.
While it would be difficult, if not impossible, to renegotiate the Paris deal that won the backing of nearly 200 nations in 2015, Trump administration officials are increasingly discussing leveraging the uncertainty over the U.S. position to boost the White House's policy priorities in future discussions.
If the administration can't extract new benefits for the U.S., Trump is willing to pull out of the deal altogether, officials said.
"We're trying to decide whether we are going to stay and make changes or leave. But we're not going to just stay," one official said.
The officials who attended Thursday's meeting did not reach a consensus recommendation to deliver to Trump, but they're expected to meet again to discuss the issue.
Trump's advisers are divided over what to do about the agreement that was a major policy priority for former President Barack Obama. Chief strategist Steve Bannon and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt are in favor of withdrawing. Others, like senior adviser Jared Kushner,
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support staying in the deal.
Those who support staying have quietly been trying to win backing from energy companies, arguing that the industry will have a better chance of drawing international support to develop technology to reduce emissions from the use of coal. And the officials have said they plan to weaken Obama's emissions reduction target.
A meeting of G-7 energy ministers -- including Energy Secretary Rick Perry -- in Rome earlier this month erupted in a dispute when Trump administration officials pushed to include stronger pro-coal, pro-nuclear language in a proposed joint statement on energy policy and declined to include references to the Paris climate agreement.
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Trump advisers want concessions for coal if U.S. stays in climate pact Back
By Andrew Restuccia | 03/17/2017 06:00 PM EDT
Trump administration officials have told lobbyists and European diplomats that the U.S. won't stay in the nearly 200-nation Paris climate change agreement unless it can secure wins for the fossil fuel industry, according to three people familiar with the discussions.
In a series of recent conversations with industry groups and European officials, Trump advisers have said the White House decision on the Paris deal could hinge on international willingness to come up with a strategy to commercialize and deploy technologies that will reduce emissions from fossil fuels.
That may not sit well with Democrats and environmental groups, who have long argued against spending billions of dollars to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants when the same money could help speed the transition to wind and solar power. But such a deal could avoid the enormous disruption that would result if the United States, the world's second-largest greenhouse gas emitter, walked away from the most comprehensive international agreement ever crafted on global warming.
Administration officials who want to stay in the 2015 Paris agreement believe that creating a future pathway for fuels like coal is the only way to win support from conservative and industry groups that want the U.S. to withdraw from the accord. And some fossil fuel supporters are beginning to come around, despite their overall skepticism toward the climate pact.
"If the world can't go on without us in the Paris accord -- that's a bit of an overstatement, but to illustrate my point -- then perhaps we ought to be in it," said Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), a pro oil lawmaker who advised the Trump campaign on energy issues. "And if we have that much influence, perhaps we have enough influence to moderate it."
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In recent weeks, administration officials have met with many of the country's major energy companies and trade groups. Those who have talked to the administration include representatives from the American Petroleum Institute, as well as the Independent Petroleum Association of America, ConocoPhillips and coal company Peabody Energy, among others, according to people familiar with the meetings.
A White House spokeswoman declined to comment, saying the administration did not yet have any announcements to make regarding the Paris agreement.
Whether the United States will pull out of the Paris agreement remains an open question in the White House, despite Trump's campaign pledge to pull out of the deal.
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and Trump's daughter Ivanka are said to advocate staying in the agreement, and several Trump administration officials are pushing a plan that would have the U.S. remain in the pact while weakening former President Barack Obama's targets for reducing the nation's greenhouse gas emissions. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is also said to support staying in the agreement, though much of the internal discussion about the issue has so far been among midlevel aides at the White House.
White House strategist Steve Bannon is seen as Trump World's biggest opponent of the Paris deal, but officials said he has not yet engaged on the issue at a granular level. Bannon and other opponents of the agreement could kill the simmering effort to stay in the Paris deal, making the ongoing conversations with diplomats and lobbyists moot.
Republicans and some Democrats have long advocated policies to support developing technology to capture carbon emissions from coal and other fossil fuels. And Cramer said the U.S. has leverage to "moderate" the Paris agreement by winning greater support for technology to slash emissions from coal.
"If you don't remove fuels, if you don't dismiss certain technologies, if you let the innovators work in a more open environment and we set realistic standards, they'll meet them," he said in an interview.
But so far, those methods to capture carbon from coal have proved to be expensive and difficult to commercialize on a wide scale.
Environmental activists are also likely to view the administration's discussions about Paris with deep suspicion, pointing to the president's vocal skepticism of climate science and his proposal to gut funding for climate programs at the Environmental Protection Agency and the State Department.
European officials say they are keeping an open mind about the administration's desire to boost technology to reduce emissions from fossil fuels -- in part because they're eager to keep the United States in the Paris agreement. The European Commission favors carbon-capture technology, but, as in the United States, the technology has so far struggled to take off in Europe.
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But Trump's efforts to undo Obama's climate policies, such as an executive order expected next week to begin the process of rewriting landmark regulations for power plants, worry many international officials.
Some foreign officials are already questioning the value of negotiating with United States to stay in Paris if Trump isn't committed to addressing climate change at home.
Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission's vice president for energy, met earlier this month in Washington with several Trump administration officials, including National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn; Kenneth Juster, an international economic affairs adviser to the president; and George David Banks, a White House adviser on international energy and environmental issues.
"They are looking at ways to bring the business aspects to the assessment of climate change policies, with an accent on technological advancement," Sefcovic told reporters after returning to Brussels, adding that technology to catch and store or use carbon emissions will probably be a priority for the U.S.
Nick Juliano and Sara Stefanini contributed to this report.
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EPA science fight to flare up over looming vacancy Back
By Eric Wolff | 05/30/2017 05:01 AM EDT
An upcoming vacancy on the EPA scientific committee that gauges the health risks of air pollution is raising fears among health advocates and green groups that Administrator Scott Pruitt's plans to reshuffle the agency's advisers could weaken its upcoming rules.
EPA sources say that the agency is months behind schedule in finding a replacement for Dr. Ana Diez Roux, the chair of the seven-member Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, who will exit the board when her term expires on Sept. 30. As a medical doctor and member of the National Academy of Sciences, Diez Roux fulfills two of the requirements that the Clean Air Act mandates for CASAC, and her departure will prevent it from issuing recommendations on soot and sulfur oxides that the agency will soon use to decide new regulations.
Earlier this month, Pruitt alarmed scientists and green groups when he opted to remove half of the members of EPA's Board of Scientific Counselors, a part of the administrator's pledge to open up EPA's advisory bodies to more business-friendly voices.
But unlike BOSC, which was created at the discretion of the administrator and plays mostly an
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advisory role, Congress created CASAC when it amended the Clean Air Act in 1977 and specified the types of experts it must include. The committee is charged with reviewing and finalizing health recommendations for six key air pollutants, and its guidance sets the direction that must be followed by the agency when crafting new regulations.
When Diez Roux's term expires, the committee "cannot function," one EPA source said.
Terry Yosie, a former head of the EPA office that manages its science committees, said he has been told by EPA staff that Pruitt has a draft notice calling for new CASAC nominations on his desk, but he hasn't yet issued it. EPA did not respond to a request to confirm this information.
Yosie, who now runs the nonprofit World Environment Center, said the agency could get slots filled on time, but an EPA source said it would require "a significant deviation" from the agency's usual monthslong process of internal review and public input.
"That process needs to have already started," the source said.
EPA declined to offer details on the CASAC nomination process, but an agency spokeswoman said "there will be a concerted effort to assure diverse scientific perspectives on advisory panels and to look for additional ways to strengthen scientific review at EPA."
After news that EPA would not extend members of BOSC to a second term, EPA spokesman J.P. Freire told The New York Times that Pruitt's aim was that the board should have people "who understand the impact of regulations on the regulated community."
Republicans and industry groups have long accused EPA scientists of having an anti-industry bias and of concealing the data they use to draw conclusions. The Republican-run House Science Committee has twice advanced legislation that would force science committees to only use data that is publicly available.
And efforts by companies and previous Republican administrations to weaken health rules for pollutants given priority under the Clean Air Act -- soot, smog, lead, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and sulfur oxide -- have been repeatedly shot down by the courts. In 2009, the D.C. Circuit overturned a standard set by President George W. Bush's EPA for soot levels because it failed to follow the advice provided by CASAC.
That has turned CASAC into a major target for groups seeking to ease their regulatory burden.
"It provides a clear political motivation to stack the Clean Air Science Advisory Committee with industry-friendly members that will not apply the current state of medical science to protect Americans as the law requires," said John Walke, director of the Clean Air Project for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
At the same time that CASAC is hanging in limbo, the EPA has yet to issue a call for nominations for 15 members of the Science Advisory Board, another body created by statute. The board has 47 total members, nine of whom, including their chair, will be completing their
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second and final term, and six of whom are finishing their first term. The board has a broader mandate for advising the administrator, and the CASAC chair is a member.
EPA has historically opened up the nomination process for advisory committees in April. Last year it opened nominations for a seat on CASAC on April 6 for the position that was ultimately filled by appointing Donna Kenski, an analyst for the Lake Michigan Air Directors Consortium. Emails from EPA obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the blog junkscience.org show that Kenski didn't receive her invitation until Oct. 6, days after her term was to begin.
Kenski was selected despite a campaign by Michael Honeycutt, chief toxicologist for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, to get on the committee. Honeycutt, who regularly impugned EPA's recommendations on everything from particulate matter to ozone, wrote to over 100 organizations and law firms to ask them to contact EPA and support his selection to CASAC, according to the Texas Observer.
"I hope that Administrator Pruitt better balances these advisory groups in terms of scientific expertise and practical experience that has been missing in the past," Honeycutt said in a statement to POLITICO. "Past advisory groups have had too much representation from individuals who are experts in very narrow fields of study, without experience in integrating across multiple lines of evidence."
The long selection process can be common. Peter Thome, chairman of the SAB and head of the Occupational and Environmental Health Department at the University of Iowa College of Public Health, said he didn't get his invitation until early November or late October. He's concerned about replacing all people leaving the board.
"It's a very deliberative process to come up with members who have all the requisite expertise to address the things that come before us," he said. "I would be concerned we could end up without sufficient strength in all those areas if we are unable to replace departing members."
The agency may already be signaling a willingness to ignore previous norms. Last week, it shortened the nomination process to replace BOSC members by three weeks.
House Science Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) is content to let the agency work through its process.
"Given the previous administration's close relationship with activist groups, it will take time to ensure a diversity of applicants are considered," he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, members of the committees are themselves jittery. Thome said he's taking a "wait and see" view on how Pruitt will deal with open seats on the committees. Ron Wyzga, a senior technical executive at the Electric Power Research Institute and one of the seven CASAC members, started a new term on the committee last year. But he's worried about the signal the agency sent in its handling of decision not to renew terms for BOSC members.
"It's kind of weird," he said. "The thing is, people had received appointment letters, then they
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[EPA] rescinded them. It struck me as duplicitous. People are willing to do some service to the government, and they're suddenly told, 'We don't want you any more.' It's an awkward situation."
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Interior names more beachheads to key jobs Back
By Esther Whieldon | 05/26/2017 04:23 PM EDT
The Interior Department today announced it would give permanent roles to many members of the Trump administration's beachhead team and bring several new people into the agency.
In total, Interior announced 19 new hires, several of which have been previously reported. Among them was Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's chief of staff, Scott Hommel, who served the same job in Zinke's congressional office, and Lori Mashburn, a former Heritage Foundation staffer who was named Interior's White House liaison.
New hires announced today include several members of Trump's presidential campaign, including Natalie Davis, who will be special assistant to the secretary; Timothy Williams, Interior's new deputy director of external affairs; and Jason Funes, an assistant in the office of external affairs.
The full list from the Interior Department is here.
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