Where do Biden’s cabinet picks stand on key energy issues? Take a look at their records and public statements and decide for yourself.
Have Assumed Office
Joe Biden:
President
“No more – no new fracking.”
“…we’ll put us on a path to achieving a carbon pollution-free electricity sector by 2035 that no future President can come along and turn back.”
Kamala Harris:
Vice President
“There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.”
Gina McCarthy:
National Climate Advisor
“Climate change is one of the greatest threats facing our planet.”
“It is critical to develop a biofuel industry powered by feedstocks produced in every corner of the country.”
John Kerry:
Envoy for Climate
“Try and picture a very thin layer of gases – a quarter-inch, half an inch, somewhere in that vicinity – that’s how thick it is. It’s in our atmosphere. It’s way up there at the edge of the atmosphere.”
“If we’re going to stave off the worst impacts of climate change, we have to accelerate this transition.”
Neera Tanden:
Office of Management and Budget
“I’m all for a Green New Deal!”
Brenda Mallory:
Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality
“I’ve dedicated my career to solving environmental challenges for communities, addressing environmental justice, and tackling the climate crisis head-on.”
“The Build Back Better plan is poised to breathe new life into the council on environmental quality.”
Brian Deese:
National Economic Council
“I’m proud to work for a president who knows that we need to go far beyond the Paris agreement.”
Pending Senate Confirmation
Jennifer Granholm:
Secretary of Energy
“There’s been wonderful input on the part of [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] and Bernie Sanders, but also the business community. I mean, we have an all-in strategy.”
“The Green New Deal was an important framework for what Joe Biden has put on tap, but I mean really, this is the most robust climate change plan ever.”
Antony Blinken:
Secretary of State
“Quite simply, [climate change] is arguably the one truly existential issue that we face. It has to be, and under a Biden administration would be, a number-one priority.”
Pete Buttigieg:
Secretary of Transportation
“I think the elegance from a policy perspective of the concept of the Green New Deal is it matches a sense of urgency about that problem of climate change with a sense of opportunity around what the solutions might represent.”
Janet Yellen:
Secretary of the Treasury
“There really is a new kind of recognition that you’ve got a society where capitalism is beginning to run amok and needs to be readjusted in order to make sure that what we’re doing is sustainable..”
Deb Haaland:
Secretary of the Interior
“You know, climate change in this country started when the Europeans got here and they started slaughtering the buffalo—a thousand a day.”
“[As Secretary I will] move climate change priorities, tribal consultation and a green economic recovery forward.”
Xavier Becerra:
Secretary of Health and Human Services
“Our climate emergency is increasingly a public health emergency.”
Marcia Fudge:
Housing and Urban Development
“I am strongly supportive of any effort for climate change. I will probably ultimately [sponsor the Green New Deal], but it has to say something more than we just want to do X, Y, Z by 2035. There has to be more meat in it.”
Linda Thomas-Greenfield:
U.N. Ambassador
“The challenges we face — a global pandemic, the global economy, the global climate crisis, mass migration and extreme poverty, social justice — are unrelenting and interconnected, but they’re not unsolvable if America is leading the way.”
Tom Vilsack:
Secretary of Agriculture
“Climate change is one of the greatest threats facing our planet.”
“It is critical to develop a biofuel industry powered by feedstocks produced in every corner of the country.”
Michael Regan:
E.P.A. Administrator
“Climate change is the most significant challenge humanity faces. We’ll make meaningful progress together by listening to every voice—from our youth & frontline communities to scientists & our workforce.”
Merrick Garland:
Attorney General
“We think we’ll get a straight shot from him. He doesn’t come with any inherent skepticism about the federal government overreaching.” -Tim McDonnell, Mother Jones