Tommy Beaudreau | |
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9th United States Deputy Secretary of the Interior | |
In office June 23, 2021 –October 27, 2023 | |
President | Joe Biden |
Preceded by | Katharine MacGregor |
Succeeded by | Laura Daniel-Davis (acting) |
1st Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management | |
In office June 2010 –May 2014 | |
President | Barack Obama |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | Abigail Ross Hopper |
Personal details | |
Born | Colorado,U.S. |
Education | Yale University (BA) Georgetown University (JD) |
Tommy P. Beaudreau is an American politician who served as the deputy secretary of the Interior from 2021 to 2023. He served as the first director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management from 2011 to 2014 and as chief of staff of the United States Department of the Interior from 2014 until the end of the Obama administration.
Beaudreau was born in Colorado. [1] His father took a job to work in the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field, [2] and Beaudreau was raised in the Bear Valley neighborhood of Anchorage,Alaska. [1] He graduated from Service High School. Beaudreau then earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Yale University and a Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center. [3]
After graduating from law school,Beaudreau worked as an associate at Fried Frank in Washington,DC. In 2000 and 2001,he was a law clerk for Judge Jerome B. Friedman of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Beaudreau then returned to Fried Frank,where he worked as an associate and later partner. [4]
In 2010,Beaudreau became a senior advisor in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcement. [4] to coordinate the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. One year later,he became the first director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. [5] He was responsible for the regulations for oil and gas development in the Arctic Ocean. [6] He served until 2014 and was succeeded by Abigail Ross Hopper. From 2014 until the end of the Obama administration in 2016,Beaudreau served as acting Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management,and chief of staff of the United States Department of the Interior. [7]
In January 2017,he became a partner at the Los Angeles law firm Latham &Watkins. [2]
In March 2021,after Elizabeth Klein's nomination for United States Deputy Secretary of the Interior was withdrawn by the Biden administration,it was reported that Beaudreau was selected as the nominee. [8] [9] Lisa Murkowski (R,Alaska) helped to convince Biden to nominate Beaudreau for assistant secretary instead of Liz Klein. [10] On April 15,2021,his nomination was sent to the Senate. [11] On May 13,2021,his nomination was reported out of committee by an 18-1 vote. [12] On June 17,2021,his nomination was confirmed in the United States Senate by an 88-9 vote. [13] [14] On June 23,2021,he was sworn into office by Secretary Deb Haaland. [15]
Beaudreau has a reputation for being friendly to oil and gas interests. [10] In 2021,he reported working for 35 clients,including numerous companies "from fossil fuel drilling and pipeline firms to offshore wind" which might pose a conflict of interest before the Interior Department. [2] In March 2023,Beaudreau signed the permission for the controversial Willow project,as Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland's name did not appear on the approval. [16]
On October 4,2023,Beaudreau announced that he would leave his Interior Department post at the end of October. [17]
As of 2021,Beaudreau was married and had two children. [6]
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources. It 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. The department was created on March 3,1849. It is headquartered at the Main Interior Building,located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington,D.C.
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