Trump Energy Council’s Latest Hire to Focus on Oil, Gas Projects
The White House council that advances the Trump administration’s energy agenda is bringing on a new hire to focus on US oil and gas infrastructure.
McKenna Skeeters is set to move to the National Energy Dominance Council on Monday, shifting from her role as chief of staff at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, according to a White House official.
The addition of Skeeters follows the departure earlier this year of Brittany Kelm, who worked on domestic oil and gas infrastructure as well as international affairs, and Peter Lake, who directed power policy at the council.
Skeeters’s hiring is seen as another signal of support for the NEDC created by Trump in his second term to coordinate policy and support energy projects. While former President Joe Biden assembled a climate team to quarterback environmental actions across his administration, Trump’s council has focused much of its resources on propelling oil, gas and coal projects. It’s also been the center of gravity for many US government energy dealings with Venezuela in the wake of the US capture of the country’s longtime leader Nicolás Maduro.
Skeeters, who has spent a year working at FERC — the agency charged with regulating interstate transmission of oil, gas and electricity — helped shepherd some of the administration’s energy-related hiring at the start of Trump’s second term while working in the Office of Presidential Personnel.
Her role at the NEDC will be focused on advancing critical oil and gas infrastructure — a portfolio that could put her in the middle of decisions about how best to steer Defense Production Act funding to refinery expansions and other energy facilities, after Trump opened the door to that support earlier this year.
“McKenna will have an immediate impact delivering results for the American people, particularly focusing on solidifying the energy infrastructure that President Trump has called for in his energy dominance agenda,” said Jarrod Agen, the NEDC’s executive director.
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