White House picks environmental adviser

President Donald J. Trump nominated Mary Neumayr on June 12 for a key environmental position in the White House—chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). Neumayr has been serving as the top official at CEQ since joining as chief of staff in March 2017. Trump withdrew his first pick to head CEQ, Kathleen Hartnett White, earlier this year amid concerns about her views on climate change and renewable energy. White is an outspoken skeptic of climate change. Neumayr is a much less controversial pick to lead CEQ and likely to win Senate confirmation. Before joining CEQ, she spent nearly a decade on Capitol Hill in various positions with the Energy & Commerce Committee in the House of Representatives, including deputy chief counsel, energy and environment. She also served as deputy counsel for environment and nuclear programs at the U.S. Department of Energy under the George W. Bush administration and as counsel to the assistant attorney general for environment and natural resources at the U.S. Department of Justice. Neumayr received her J.D. from the University of California Hastings College of the Law.