President-elect Donald Trump’s goal of creating a new energy council to achieve his U.S. “energy dominance” agenda is off to a rocky start, according to a new report detailing a “bureaucratic turf war” among incoming White House officials.
The brewing battle inside the not-yet-formed National Energy Council, which Trump said shortly after his victory would be created under his new administration, kicked off over leadership infighting, sources told Politico.
The incoming president said his selection for Interior secretary – Republican North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum – would lead the council. But that may be up in the air, with three unnamed sources involved in the discussions saying Trump's choice to lead the Department of Energy, oil executive Chris Wright, could be tapped as a possible co-chair, Politico reported.
“One of the people familiar with those conversations said that development could run afoul of Burgum, who Trump promised to make leader of the council,” according to the report.
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“We’ve heard that Wright wants an equal role to Burgum and there’s resistance,” one of the people familiar with the discussions told the publication.
And still other issues involving the council’s “structure, staffing and how prominent a role it would play in crafting policy” have also emerged, according to the new report.
“Even the planned council’s name is changing to avoid confusion with the National Economic Council, a mainstay within the Executive Office of the President, according to one industry executive familiar with the discussions,” Politico reported. “The body is expected to be rechristened as the National Energy Dominance Council, said this person, who along with three others, was granted anonymity to discuss the private conversations around the project.”
The council is designed to manage energy policy and regulations throughout the federal government.
