OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Biden reportedly taps former EPA head Gina McCarthy as domestic ‘climate czar’ |  Biden reportedly to select Brenda Mallory to lead White House environmental council | Pelosi, Hoyer nod to support for Haaland for Interior

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CLIME-ING HIGHER: President-elect Joe Biden has tapped former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Gina McCarthy to oversee domestic climate policy in his administration, according to multiple reports.

McCarthy, who served as EPA chief during former President Obama’s second term, will take a role designed to serve as a counterpart to special envoy John Kerry, who will represent the U.S. as a “climate czar” on international matters.

Like Kerry, McCarthy’s role as White House Climate Policy Coordinator is a first of its kind position. Based in the White House, McCarthy will help oversee Biden’s commitment to ensure a “whole of government approach” on climate change, considering climate action within every government agency. She will also help him follow through on a pledge to help the U.S. reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

McCarthy comes to the role from the Natural Resources Defense Council. She has used her perch at one of the nation’s largest environmental groups to serve as a vocal critic of numerous Trump-era environmental rollbacks.

“I’m here to remind the political leadership at the EPA that what they do matters, and it’s time for them to step up and do their jobs. Just do your jobs. Right now this administration is trying to systemically undo health protections by running roughshod over the law,” McCarthy said at a House hearing last year where a bipartisan group of EPA administrators questioned the agency’s direction under the Trump administration.  

Read more about the reported selection of McCarthy here. 

IN THE CE QUEUE: Joe Biden will select Brenda Mallory to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), multiple news outlets reported Wednesday. 

Mallory is the director of regulatory policy at the Southern Environmental Law Center, and previously worked as CEQ’s general counsel during the Obama Administration. 

The council advises the president on environmental policy and oversees implementation of environmental laws. 

During the Trump administration, CEQ oversaw rollbacks of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a 50-year-old law mandating environmental reviews of construction projects. 

A spokesperson for the Biden transition didn’t immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment. A Southern Environmental Law Center spokesperson declined to comment on Mallory’s behalf. 

In addition to her work at CEQ, Mallory has also served as acting general counsel of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Overall she worked in the government for 17 years under both Democratic and Republican administrations. 

She recently told Reuters that she was being vetted for the CEQ role, and she’s “hoping at top of the priority list for CEQ is addressing changes Trump made to how CEQ implements NEPA.”

Read more about the reported pick here. 

STAMP OF APPROVAL: House Democratic leaders on Wednesday voiced support for Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) to be the next Interior secretary, a move that would leave the party with an even slimmer margin in the lower chamber.

Haaland has emerged as the leading contender for the post and has support from progressive groups, who have feared she might not be picked because of the slim House majority Democrats have after the party lost ground in this year’s elections. 

Two House Democrats already have been nominated to posts in the Biden administration, further shrinking the majority.

But the remarks by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) offered support for President-elect Joe Biden to select Haaland. 

“Congresswoman Deb Haaland is one of the most respected and one of the best members of Congress I have served with,” Pelosi said in a statement following questions over whether concerns over House Democrats’ numbers could be stalling a Haaland pick.

“I am so proud that, as one of the first Native American women to have served in Congress, she serves as Chair of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands. Congresswoman Haaland knows the territory, and if she is the President-elect’s choice for Interior Secretary, then he will have made an excellent choice.”

Biden has been facing mounting pressure to select a Native American to lead Interior — an agency critics say has often fallen short in its responsibilities to tribes.

Hoyer said Wednesday that Haaland would be a “historic and very appropriate” choice for Interior secretary. He said that he had not talked with the Biden transition team about Haaland specifically.

A week ago, Hoyer told reporters that he was “certainly concerned by the slimming of the majority” and had “indicated to the administration very early on that I wanted them to be very careful in terms of the members that they appointed from the Congress given the closeness of our majority.”

Read more about their support here. 

HOT TAKES:

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell talked about the Fed’s recent joining of a group of banks that collaborate on managing the financial risks from climate change on Wednesday. 

“One of our jobs is to regulate and supervise banks and to look after the stability of the financial system….So, we will expect that those important institutions will be resilient against the many risks that they face: credit risk, market risk. cyber risk. Climate change is an emerging risk to financial institutions, the financial system and the economy, and we are, as so many others are .in the very early stages of understanding what that means, what needs to be done about it, and by whom,” he said. 

“That’s why 83 central banks have joined together to share research and identify best practices in this important emerging area,” Powell added. 

WHAT WE’RE READING:

Court upholds dismissal of Chemours lawsuit against DuPont, The Associated Press reports

Inslee proposes his latest climate-change package as part of Washington budget, The Seattle Times reports

Bureau of Land Management filling top posts out West ahead of Trump’s exit, E&E News reports

ICYMI: Stories from Wednesday and Tuesday night…

Pelosi, Hoyer nod to support for Haaland as Biden weighs Interior pick

Air pollution listed as an official cause of death in the UK for the first time

With climate team taking shape, Biden weighs picks for EPA, Interior

Biden taps former EPA head Gina McCarthy as domestic ‘climate czar’: reports

Biden to select Brenda Mallory to lead White House environmental council: reports