Illustration: Sarah Grillo / Axios
The White House on Wednesday saw progress in its efforts to get more nominees in the energy space into their jobs.
Why it matters: After quickly confirming Chris Wright and Doug Burgum at Energy and Interior, senators have a bottleneck of lower-level nominations to deal with.
Driving the news: The Senate voted 54–43 to confirm Preston Griffith as undersecretary of energy.
- A lawyer and consultant, Griffith served in management roles at DOE and National Security Council in the first Trump administration.
Senate Environment and Public Works advanced NRC Chair David Wright's nomination to serve another term by a 10–9 party-line vote.
- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse raised concerns about NRC hiring a DOGE staffer who reports to the Energy Department.
- EPW also advanced, by a 10–9 vote, Usha-Maria Turner to be assistant administrator of the EPA for Office of International and Tribal Affairs.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources held a confirmation hearing for four Energy and Interior nominees.
- Audrey Robertson, tapped to lead the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, faced questions about her support for fossil fuels and a White House budget proposing a 74% cut to the office.
- Wind, solar and battery technologies have "yet to play out," she said, adding that EERE should study the degradation and life cycle of utility-scale batteries.
Sen. Martin Heinrich disagreed, arguing that the grids in Texas and his home state of New Mexico delivers reliable and cheap power from a balance of renewables and nuclear.
ENR also heard from Timothy Walsh to lead DOE's Office of Environmental Management; David Eisner to lead its Office of International Affairs; and Lanny Erdos to lead Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.
