Explainer

What Trump’s Billionaire-Filled Cabinet Could Mean for Clean Energy and the Climate Crisis

Jan 29, 2025
Key Nominees to Know:

Update: Ahead of anticipated Senate floor votes on Trump’s cabinet nominees and following the White House announcement to cut essential programs that help working families and protect our environment, this morning LCV urged senators to oppose the confirmations of all cabinet nominees, including and especially Russell Vought for Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the architect of these cuts. As nominee hearings and Senate floor votes continue, you can find real time updates from us on Blue Sky at @lcv.org.

Donald Trump has nominated the most anti-environment, anti-democracy, billionaire- and millionaire- filled Cabinet in this country’s history. A group of wealthy elites whose nominations are based more on whether they have proven their loyalty to Trump than meaningful experience or qualifications, Trump’s nominees have proven they are willing to bend or even break the rules to implement his extreme vision.

As the nominees make their way through Senate confirmation, it is important we understand how these individuals and the departments they are set to lead could impact climate policy in the years to come.

Environmental Protection Agency: Lee Zeldin

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) works to protect the environment and human health by enforcing laws, developing safeguards, and distributing funds and technical assistance that promote clean air, land, and water. As such, its work has direct and significant impacts on our country’s efforts to combat climate change and provide a safe, healthy, and prosperous place for people to thrive.

LCV’s VP of Federal Policy (and former EPA scientist) Matthew Davis outlines the EPA’s role in protecting our air, land, water and food from toxic chemicals and pollution.

Lee Zeldin, Trump’s nominee for EPA administrator, has denied that climate change is a serious problem and has a history of opposing environmental action, including voting against the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in clean energy and climate action in history. He holds a shameful 14% lifetime score on LCV’s National Environmental ScorecardUnder Zeldin’s leadership, EPA’s mission would be jeopardized and the climate would suffer.

Department of the Interior: Doug Burgum

The Department of the Interior (DOI) manages, protects, and maintains public lands, national parks, and U.S. waters, coasts, and shores. These lands are culturally, historically, and ecologically important, and their maintenance is crucial to building resilience to climate change. DOI also regulates oil and gas drilling, coal and mineral mining, and clean energy projects on public lands and waters.

Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of the Interior is Doug Burgum, former governor of North Dakota. Burgum has personal ties to the oil and gas industry and has opposed several key climate policies and actions of the Biden administration. He also helped organize Trump’s infamous meeting with oil and gas industry executives where Trump promised to slash environmental regulations in exchange for $1 billion in donations to his campaign.

Burgum has been a fierce proponent of the fossil fuel industry in North Dakota, and there is no indication that he will be any different as Interior Secretary, nor will he push back against President Trump’s attempts to ban clean energy sources. With Doug Burgum leading DOI, we could see significant increases in oil and gas production and a halt to clean wind and solar power on public lands, leading to a worsening of the climate crisis and increases in electricity prices and blackouts.

Department of Energy: Chris Wright

The Department of Energy (DOE) manages how energy is used and deployed, and plays an important role in mitigating the climate crisis. DOE provides support for improving energy transmission and reliability, and helps clean energy technology (ex: wind turbines, solar panels, battery storage, electric vehicles, and advanced geothermal) get online to power this country. Without DOE’s support, clean energy projects would have a more difficult time getting off the ground and plugged into our electric grids.

Chris Wright, CEO of fracking company Liberty Energy, is Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Energy. Wright is a climate denier who has outright rejected that there is a climate crisis and the underlying science. He has been outspoken in criticizing government efforts to advance clean energy and address the climate crisis and has claimed that there is no such thing as “clean energy” and “dirty energy” and would not recant his statement that climate change-fueled wildfires are “just hype.” Chris Wright, who has no previous government experience, has proven he intends to carry out Trump’s dangerous fossil fuel agenda if confirmed as energy secretary. He would pose a barrier to the clean energy transition and be a complete disaster for the climate at the helm of DOE.

Office of Management and Budget: Russell Vought

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) develops and executes the president’s budget and oversees federal agencies to ensure they are carrying out the commitments and wishes of the president. OMB plays a critical role in implementing policy, including those affecting climate pollution and the response to the impacts of climate change, on behalf of the president.

Russell Vought served as OMB deputy director, and then as acting director, during the first Trump administration, and is now nominated to run the office.

During his previous stint, Vought withheld funds directed by acts of Congress, including for critical disaster relief to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. He was a key author of the extreme Project 2025 agenda in which he outlined a plan for dangerously and illegally consolidating power within the executive branch, traumatizing EPA career civil servants who help keep our air and water clean, and forcing every agency to carry out his White Christian nationalist ideologies. If Vought were to again lead OMB, he would further endanger our communities and cause lasting harm to public health and safety, the planet, and our freedoms.

Department of Justice: Pam Bondi

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is responsible for upholding and enforcing the rule of law, including voting rights, discrimination laws, and environmental regulations. If the Justice Department does not uphold the laws that protect our environment and democracy, scofflaw polluters will have free rein to pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, dump toxins into the waterways that sustain our communities, and destroy ecosystems and wildlife with no regard for the impact it will have on our lives and the planet.

The Department of Justice’s roles in climate and democracy include making polluters pay and upholding voting rights laws.

Pam Bondi, former Florida attorney general and current nominee to lead the Justice Department, has a clear anti-democracy, anti-climate record. She represented Donald Trump during his first impeachment trial and supported efforts to overturn the 2020 election, showcasing her disregard for the democratic process. She also tried to halt limits on carbon pollution from power plants even though those emissions are fueling the stronger, more frequent hurricanes battering Florida. Bondi’s loyalty lies with Donald Trump, not the people or the U.S. Constitution. With her in control of the Justice Department, we could see a shift in the role of the Department from a check on executive power to a mechanism for carrying out the president’s bidding. 

Department of Transportation: Sean Duffy

The transportation sector is the biggest source of climate pollution in the U.S, accounting for nearly a third of our climate emissions, so the Department of Transportation (DOT) plays a significant role in reducing the severity of and managing the infrastructure effects of the climate crisis. DOT provides transportation options and infrastructure to help reduce emissions, including public transit, electric vehicle charging, improved fuel efficiency standards that have saved consumers billions of dollars at the pump, and more. They are also involved in maintaining roads, bridges, and highways, as well as rail, pipeline, and bus systems.

As transportation is the single largest source of pollution in the U.S., the DOT’s roles in fuel efficiency standards, infrastructure maintenance, mass transit and more are critical for the climate.

Sean Duffy, confirmed as Transportation Secretary on January 28, is a far-right Fox News host and has dismissed climate change as being a political movement and not a scientific reality. During his time in Congress, Duffy served as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and on the House Committee on Financial Services, but has little experience in the transportation field. He holds a disgraceful lifetime score of 2% in LCV’s National Environmental Scorecard. Duffy’s history of denying the scientific consensus of climate change, criticizing clean car standards, and his loyalty to Trump, will put our health, environment, and climate progress at risk. 

Department of Agriculture: Brooke Rollins

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is tasked with ensuring communities nationwide have access to safe, healthy, affordable food, supporting farmers in pursuit of this goal, and helping to sustain rural communities. It also oversees tens of millions of acres of national forests. Agricultural practices can contribute significantly to soil health and the health of waterways and can be utilized to sequester carbon emissions that contribute to climate change.

In addition to having little to no agricultural policy experience, agriculture secretary nominee Brooke Rollins has denied the validity of the science behind climate change. Rollins also proved her commitment to implementing Donald Trump’s dangerous policy agenda through her roles in his first administration and as CEO of the conservative think tank America First Policy Institute. Helping farmers put nutritious food on families’ tables and protecting the environment should be at the top of Rollins’ list of priorities, but her dedication to Trump far outweighs her dedication to serving the people of this country.

Department of Health and Human Services: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) aims to improve the health and well-being of people in this country. They are responsible for responding to public health threats, including extreme heat and other extreme weather and vector-borne diseases, as well as conducting research on environmental health issues that will worsen under climate change. HHS is also responsible for overseeing Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act.

RFK Jr., Trump’s pick to lead HHS, has spent the last several years spouting anti-science and sometimes racist conspiracy theories, including claiming that vaccines cause autism and offshore wind turbines are killing whales. His anti-science viewpoints are extremely concerning for an individual tasked with overseeing a department whose work is grounded in science and medicine, especially as climate-based health threats are on the rise. 

The Next Steps in the Cabinet Confirmation Process

Throughout the confirmation hearings, we have heard nothing but unwavering support for President Trump’s dangerous, dirty, and anti-democracy agenda from his nominees, and we can expect that trend will continue. Senate committee confirmation hearings on these nominees have now concluded, and each nominee has or will be subject to a committee vote. If the committee decides to move forward, the nominee will then be voted on by the full Senate, which will either accept or reject their nomination with a simple majority vote.

While most of the nominees are expected to be approved by the Republican-led Senate, we are helping ensure they will be held accountable for their disregard for people and the planet. We will not stop doing what is right and fighting to protect our communities and climate from this extreme, anti-environment, anti-democracy administration.

THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW

Tell Congress to Stand Strong for Climate

President Trump has called climate change a hoax and has shown that he’s willing to undo our movement’s progress addressing the climate crisis, along with access to clean air and water. Make your voice heard: Sign the petition telling Congress to stand strong and protect hard-won climate and environmental protections.

Tell Congress to Stand Strong for Climate
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