WASHINGTON, July 26, 2017 - The Interior Department has a new number-two. The Senate Monday evening voted to confirm Dave Bernhardt as Deputy Interior Secretary. The Colorado native has held several positions at the agency, including solicitor and chief legal officer. He joins Interior from the Denver-based law and lobbying firm, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, where he represented energy companies and mining interests, among others.
President Trump has made two key nominations for high-level jobs at the Department of Energy. Mark Menezes has been tapped for the undersecretary of energy position, while Paul Dabbar is in line to be undersecretary for science. Menezes is currently vice president of federal relations for Berkshire Hathaway Energy, a utility holding company that owns MidAmerican Energy, PacifiCorp and NV Energy. Dabbar is managing director for mergers and acquisitions – and head of energy M&E – for J.P. Morgan.
Ana Unruh Cohen is the new government affairs director with the Natural Resources Defense Council. Previously she served as director of energy, climate and natural resources in the office of Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. NRDC has also named Ed Yoon as permanent director of its Center for Policy Advocacy. Yoon has been serving as acting director.
Gravity Solutions Inc. added Rik Miller to its senior advisory group. A 31-year veteran of the DuPont Company, Miller currently serves on the board of directors of Cool Planet Energy Systems, Douglas Products, Montana FFA Foundation, and is a senior advisor for Altamont Capital Partners. Gravity Solutions is an agricultural biotechnology public company commercializing its technology derived from and designed for Space with significant applications for agriculture on Earth.
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