President Donald Trump on Thursday said he plans to nominate Undersecretary of Energy Mark Menezes to take over as deputy secretary for the Department of Energy.
Menezes would succeed Dan Brouillette, who in December was confirmed and sworn in as secretary of energy. The nomination for the No. 2 spot at DOE had not been filed at deadline Friday.
Menezes was confirmed by the Senate in November 2017 as undersecretary, through which he is lead adviser to DOE on energy policy and emerging energy technologies. He previously worked in the public and private sectors, including as an executive at Berkshire Hathaway Energy and as chief counsel for energy and environment at the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Before Berkshire Hathaway, Menezes was also a partner at the Hunton & Williams law firm, where he headed the regulated markets and energy infrastructure practice group.
Brouillette in January elevated Menezes’ role at the Energy Department, giving him authority as undersecretary to make decisions in agency operations in all areas except for the semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). That covered human capital, cybersecurity, property, and other matters.
In August the undersecretary visited DOE’s Hanford Site in Washington state to receive an update on construction of the Waste Treatment Plant that will convert into a glass form much of the 56 million gallons of radioactive waste generated by decades of plutonium production.
Brouillette, a Louisiana native, is said to be close to Menezes, who is a graduate of Louisiana State University (LSU). There was no immediate work on who might be tapped to succeed Menezes as undersecretary.
