The next head of the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management could be a New York attorney who last served DOE in the Office of the General Counsel.
Two sources this week said the incoming Donald Trump administration is considering Gary Lavine to head DOE’s $6-billion-a-year Cold War nuclear-cleanup program as assistant secretary for environmental management. The sources have aided the Trump transition team but are not employed by it.
Lavine is the former DOE deputy general counsel for environment and nuclear programs. He joined the agency in that capacity in 2004 during then-President George W. Bush’s second term.
Lavine has also worked in state politics. Prior to joining DOE, he was a staffer for the New York state legislature in Albany. In 2011, well after leaving the agency, Lavine was appointed to New York’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The commission investigates alleged illegal activity by lobbyists, among other things.
Now working privately for the law firm Bousquet Holstein in Syracuse, N.Y., Lavine described himself in an interview with the local Syracuse.com as an “establishment Republican” who backed Jeb Bush during the 2016 GOP primary before tacking into the Trump camp.
If nominated by Trump, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the full Senate will have to approve Lavine’s ascension to the top DOE nuclear-cleanup post. The Trump transition team had not formally submitted Lavine’s name for consideration as of Thursday, a Senate aide said.
Lavine did not return multiple voice messages seeking comment.
Rumors about the new DOE cleanup boss have swirled since Nov. 8. At one one time, former DOE hands Eric Knox and Ed Davis were said to be in the running for the position. Knox, a Yucca Mountain proponent who served in both Bush administrations, never replied to requests for comments about the rumors. Davis, a longtime nuclear industry consultant, said that while his name had been put forward to the transition team, no one from Trump Tower ever contacted or vetted him.
