Public Lands and the Energy Transition

The Department of the Interior is a key player in the energy transition in the U.S.. The federal government owns about 28% of the 2.3 billion acres of land in the country. The Department is responsible for permitting oil and gas drilling, renewable development, and mining on its vast land holdings. 

At the same time, the DOI is tasked with protecting America’s national parks and wilderness holdings for future generations. As the urgency of the climate crisis grows, the agency is at the heart of the difficult trade-offs between conservation and energy development that will define the energy transition. 

What does an environmentally and socially responsible approach to the energy transition look like? And how does the federal government weigh the impacts and benefits of energy development on public lands?

This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Tommy Beaudreau about the DOI’s effort to protect public lands and support the development of a domestic clean energy economy.

Tommy is the co-chair of WilmerHale’s energy, environment, and natural resources practice, and a distinguished visiting fellow at Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy. He recently served as deputy secretary of the Department of Interior from 2021-2023. Tommy served in senior leadership roles in the Department for nearly a decade across two administrations, including as the first director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in 2011.