On March 15, Deb Haaland was confirmed in a 51-40 vote by the U.S. Senate as the 54th Secretary of the Interior. Haaland was elected in 2018 to serve as the U.S. House Representative for the first congressional district in New Mexico. She was the vice chair of the House Natural Resources Committee and chaired the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands. Haaland is a member of the Pueblo of Laguna and will be the first Native American to serve in a cabinet position

“I am proud and humbled to lead the dedicated team at Interior as we seek to leave a livable planet for future generations. Together, we will work to advance President Biden’s vision to honor our nation-to-nation relationship with Tribes, address the climate and nature crises, advance environmental justice, and build a clean energy future that creates good-paying jobs and powers our nation.”

On April 14, President Biden nominated Tommy Beaudreau as the deputy secretary for the Department of the Interior. Beaudreau served as the first director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management under President Obama after leading the DOI oversight of offshore oil development following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. He then became acting assistant secretary for land and minerals management and chief of staff for the department. Beaudreau is a partner in the Washington DC office of Latham & Watkins and, according to the firm’s bio, has extensive experience in conventional and renewable energy, environmental litigation, crisis management, internal investigations, and financial industry regulation.