Biden taps acting leads, other key people for energy-focused agencies

U.S. President Joe Biden has announced acting leadership at the U.S. Department of Energy and other agencies that will help kickstart Biden's climate agenda.

David Huizenga will serve as acting Secretary of Energy. A career DOE employee since 1987, Huizenga most recently served as associate principal deputy administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Huizenga will lead the DOE pending confirmation of Energy Secretary nominee Jennifer Granholm, who will appear Jan. 27 before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Biden also named other DOE appointees, including Tarak Shah as chief of staff, Kelly Speakes-Backman as principal deputy assistant secretary for DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and Jennifer Wilcox as principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Fossil Energy.

Most recently, Speakes-Backman served as the first CEO of the Energy Storage Association, while Wilcox was a professor of chemical engineering and energy policy at the University of Pennsylvania and a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute.

Jane Nishida has displaced former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Chief Andrew Wheeler as acting administrator. Nishida previously served as principal deputy assistant administrator for the EPA's Office of International and Tribal Affairs.

Biden has selected North Carolina regulator Michael Regan, an EPA and Environmental Defense Fund alumnus, to serve as the agency's full-time administrator pending Senate confirmation.

Biden tapped Scott de la Vega to lead the U.S. Department of the Interior in an acting capacity until the Senate votes on Interior Secretary nominee Deb Haaland's confirmation. The official has served as Interior's associate solicitor for general law and previously worked as ethics counsel in the White House Counsel's Office.