© Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North AmericaWILMINGTON, DELAWARE - DECEMBER 11: U.S. President-elect Joe Biden speaks during an event to announce new cabinet nominations at the Queen Theatre on December 11, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. President-elect Joe Biden is continuing to round out his domestic team with the announcement of his choices for cabinet secretaries of Veterans Affairs and Agriculture, and the heads of his domestic policy council and the U.S. Trade Representative. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(Bloomberg) -- President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Brenda Mallory to lead the Council on Environmental Quality, coordinating government-wide efforts to combat climate change and promote sustainable development.
Mallory, 63, served as the council's general counsel under former President Barack Obama. Most recently, she has been the director of regulatory policy for the Southern Environmental Law Center, a group that uses litigation to promote clean air, safe water and wildlife conservation. Mallory's nomination was confirmed by two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named before a formal announcement.
Biden transition spokespeople didn't respond to a request for comment on the matter.
If confirmed as chair of the CEQ, Mallory would play a pivotal role guiding environmental policy decisions across the federal government. The council oversees implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act, including government reviews of the consequences of agency decisions on everything from land use and endangered species to oil drilling and offshore wind farms.
Under President Donald Trump, the agency has sought to expedite environmental reviews and permitting of pipelines, highways and other projects. Under Biden, the office is expected to play a bigger role addressing environmental inequities, with poor people and minorities more likely to live near refineries, highways and factories and disproportionately affected by they pollution they generate.
The council also may look to bolster the government's calculation of the social cost of carbon, a metric estimating the potential economic damage from climate change historically used to justify environmental policies.
And under Biden, the agency also is likely to rewrite a rule governing agency reviews under NEPA, following Trump administration changes limiting the scope of the analysis as well as what projects warrant the scrutiny.
Mallory has argued that NEPA is meant to foster informed government decision making. "NEPA was not intended to be a process for rubber-stamping government decisions," she wrote in a piece for the American College of Environmental Lawyers last year.
Mallory, a graduate of Columbia Law School, has served in other federal government roles, including as acting general counsel and principal deputy general counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency. Before joining the EPA she was the chair of the natural resources practice group at the environmental law firm Beveridge and Diamond.
"She holds a deep commitment to protecting everyone, including the most vulnerable, from environmental pollution," said Stephen Schima, senior legislative counsel with the environmental law organization Earthjustice. "By nominating Mallory, President-elect Biden is sending a strong signal that his administration is prepared to take the steps necessary to address the climate and biodiversity crises and take meaningful action to combat environmental injustice."
(Updates with background on Mallory beginning in fifth paragraph.)
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