Dive Brief:

• Among figures President-elect Donald Trump is considering to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is Kathleen Hartnett White, head of a conservative think tank who wants to end renewable subsidies, and hedges on whether mankind can reverse global warming, McClatchy DC reports. 
• White is head of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and previously served six years as chairman and commissioner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
• Trump during the campaign vowed to revitalize fossil fuels and eliminate costly regulations, with the EPA being one of his favorite targets. Trump has said he intends to roll back the Clean Power Plan, President Obama's signature climate legislation.

Dive Insight:

As Trump continues to name leadership positions in his new administration, the energy sector is closely watching who the incoming President will tap to lead the EPA—the agency he has essentially vowed to gut—reducing costly regulations and pushing the coal sector to resurgence.

McClatchy DC's interview with White revealed her desire to end subsidies for wind and solar power, saying Congress should form environmental policy instead of federal agencies. White says the country needs to "very carefully look at the risk involved" with eliminating fossil fuels.

The site reports Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is also in the running to lead the EPA. His website says he is "a leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda."

These candidates align with Trump's support of the fossil fuel industry, especially coal. In September, Trump told a shale industry convention that he would loosen energy production restrictions, open more lands to exploration and eliminate costly regulations including the Clean Power Plan, which would curb greenhouse gas emissions 32% by 2030 from the power sector. 

There are mixed signals coming from Trump's inner circle, however. Despite White's comments on fossil fuels and assertion that wind and solar have "been subsidized since the early 1990s and should compete on their own terms," she told McClatchy—there have been signs that a Trump administration would leave those subsidies in place.

"Everything with renewables continues; the credits will remain in place,” according to a member of the Trump transition team."