Mike Nartker
GHG Monitor
9/12/2014

Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall—the Obama Administration’s choice to serve as the new No. 2 official in DOE—this week joined the lengthy list of DOE nominees awaiting full confirmation by the Senate. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved Sherwood-Randall’s nomination to serve as the next Deputy Secretary of Energy by a voice vote during a brief committee meeting held Sept. 11, during which Committee Chair Mary Landrieu (D-La.) noted Sherwood-Randall’s “impressive resume.” She currently serves as Special Assistant to the President and White House Coordinator for Defense Policy, Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Arms Control. Among her previous positions, she served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council from 2009 to 2013; and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia from 1994 to 1996.

If confirmed by the full Senate, Sherwood-Randall would replace Dan Poneman, who has announced plans to leave DOE this fall after having served as Deputy Secretary for five years. Now that she has cleared the Senate energy committee, though, Sherwood-Randall joins a lengthy list of other pending DOE nominees awaiting consideration by the full Senate. Such nominees include Under Secretary for Science nominee Franklin Orr, Chief Financial Officer nominee Joseph Hezir, Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy nominee Ellen Williams and Director of the Office of Science nominee Marc Kastner.

During a committee hearing to consider Sherwood-Randall’s nomination in July, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) warned her that she may have a difficult time getting confirmed by the full Senate.  “You’re going to need to navigate a floor process that has not been very kind to our DOE nominees,” Murkowski told Sherwood-Randall. “We’ve certainly cleared a lot of judges this year, a lot of officials for other agencies and departments. So perhaps we can take a little breather from that and focus on DOE for a change. I think that Secretary [of Energy Ernest] Moniz needs to have a full team around him, and I want to help support him in that.”