The White House on Tuesday nominated a former Capitol Hill staffer as general counsel for the Department of Energy.
William Cooper is currently senior counsel and director in the Washington, D.C. branch of McConnell Valdés, a corporate law firm based in Puerto Rico. His prior positions as a congressional staffer include staff director for the House Natural Resources mineral resources subcommittee, senior policy adviser on the National Environmental Policy Act for the Natural Resources Committee, and general counsel for the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Cooper has also worked as a lawyer in Tennessee and served as executive director and then president of the Center for Liquified Natural Gas.
The general counsel position is currently held on an acting basis by longtime DOE hand Theodore Garrish, who is also the department’s assistant secretary for international affairs.
The Senate has yet to confirm a DOE general counsel during the Trump administration. Nominee David Jonas, a former lawyer for the Energy Department and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, withdrew from contention in January following some bumps in his confirmation process last year.
