Dan Brouillette (U.S. Department of Energy via Wikimedia Commons)
As Donald Trump's energy secretary, Dan Brouillette unleashed an energy boom, with America becoming a net energy exporter and producer for the first time in 75 years thanks to record-high oil and gas production. Now, Brouillette is positioned to potentially serve in the second Trump administration, saying Trump's victory is an opportunity to "reshape U.S. energy policy" and usher in "an era of unprecedented innovation."
After four years of the Biden-Harris administration, which prioritized green energy policies to fight climate change and rolled back Trump-era energy policies in the process, proponents of an all-of-the-above energy strategy are excited about the possibility of Brouillette returning to the Trump administration.
The excitement underscores the centrality of energy policy to Trump's economic vision. The president-elect has made clear he views slashing energy prices as the key to battling inflation and blunting the spike in housing prices. "If we open up American energy, you will get immediate pricing release, relief, for American citizens—not, by the way, just in housing, but in a whole host of other economic goods too," Trump's vice presidential pick, J.D. Vance, said during a debate.
Brouillette—who holds a master's degree in intelligence and national security from the Citadel Military College of South Carolina—is a former tank commander with the Army's 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment and a recipient of the prestigious Distinguished Public Service awards, handed out by the Pentagon and State Department. In 2004, he was hired by Ford Motor Company as a senior vice president before joining the United States Automobile Association in a similar role in 2006.
Trump selected Brouillette to serve as deputy energy secretary in 2017 and to serve as energy secretary in 2019, after then-secretary Rick Perry left the department. Brouillette is the only person ever to receive Senate confirmation for both roles. After serving in the administration, he was hired as the president of the energy firm Sempra Infrastructure and, two years later, as president of the Edison Electric Institute, the nation's largest industry group representing power providers.
In interviews with the Washington Free Beacon, several former Trump administration officials and energy industry officials, all of whom have extensive experience working with Brouillette, lauded the former energy secretary as someone who could advance Trump's agenda and unwind the Biden-Harris administration's restrictive regulations.
The wave of support backing Brouillette comes days after Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in a sweeping victory to take back the White House. And it comes just two weeks after Brouillette stepped down from his role at the Edison Electric Institute, an unexpected move that makes him immediately available to serve once again in the federal government.
Filling energy-related policy roles in the Trump administration, meanwhile, will likely receive an increased level of scrutiny from Trump and his senior transition staff. The president-elect campaigned on increasing energy independence and energy security and curbing burdensome climate regulations implemented by the Biden-Harris administration. Trump also promised to reinstate his first administration's energy agenda, much of which was overseen by Brouillette.
"I think the world of him," said Mark Menezes, the president of the United States Energy Association, who served as Brouillette's deputy at the Energy Department in 2020. "He's got the skillset necessary to run any agency. He showed that at DOE, whether it's a job in the White House or even international."
"Under his leadership, the U.S. became the leading producer of oil and natural gas globally, and really served as a huge counterbalance to the countries that for years had dominated the price and supply of oil," Menezes said. "That's what changed under his leadership."
While he served in the Department of Energy, Brouillette spearheaded efforts to boost America's nuclear power footprint and created a first-ever artificial intelligence office.
He also served on the White House National Security Council and National Space Council and was one of Trump's top advisers on energy and nuclear-weapons matters.
"When you look back at what DOE did under the Trump administration, Dan Brouillette is at the core of all of it," said Neil Chatterjee, who served as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission during the Trump administration. "While he certainly has conservative bonafides, I know a lot of Democrats who may not agree with all of his views on policy, but they respect it and they respect that he's a serious person and not a hack and not an ideologue."
Brouillette's work bolstering liquefied natural gas export projects to energy-needy allies in Europe and Asia is especially relevant given the Biden-Harris administration's actions. In January, the White House gave in to environmental activists' demands and issued a moratorium on permitting such projects to allow time for a federal study analyzing their climate impacts.
The Biden-Harris administration's moratorium on gas exports is ultimately something Brouillette could quickly unwind if Trump selects him to lead the Department of Energy once more. Sempra Infrastructure, the company Brouillette led after departing the Department of Energy, is one of the nation's largest developers of natural gas export projects.
"When he was deputy secretary, he went to Germany several times—Germany at that time didn't have any import terminals," a former Department of Energy official who worked with Brouillette told the Free Beacon. "It was very reliant on Russian gas. And Dan was able to get the Germans to build their first import terminal. That was the first sort of stage of American LNG coming into Germany."
"He understands energy markets," the former official added. "He understands nuclear technology, he understands renewables, he understands that all of those are needed in order to have the most stable, secure, as well as affordable and clean energy balance that we can possibly have, and not just here in the United States, but for the world. He's very pragmatic about it and I think that translates into an all-of-the-above energy strategy."
Last year, after the Edison Electric Institute selected Brouillette as its president and CEO, the group characterized him as "a preeminent voice helping to guide the nation's energy policy." In that role, Brouillette threw cold water on President Joe Biden's plans to decarbonize the nation's power grid and sued Biden's administration over its rules targeting fossil fuel-fired power plants.
Andrew Wheeler, who served as EPA administrator under Trump, also voiced support for Brouillette, who he said "remains widely respected in the energy field and with his energy peers."
"Dan is very focused on the nexus between energy security and national security, the importance of the United States being an energy supplier for global energy markets, whether that's oil markets, natural gas markets, exporting U.S. nuclear technology," another former Energy Department official told the Free Beacon.
"People need to keep in mind that emissions come globally, right?" the former official said. "So, emissions-lowering technology is not going to be effective unless it's deployed all over the world. And Dan's keenly aware that the U.S. does it best."
In a statement to the Free Beacon, Brouillette, who is involved in Trump's transition effort, expressed excitement at what a second Trump administration can accomplish.
"President Trump's victory marks a pivotal moment to reshape U.S. energy policy, addressing our most critical economic, and national security challenges," Brouillette said. "With America's abundant resources and unparalleled ingenuity, we can unleash an era of unprecedented innovation."
"In the years ahead, strengthening our energy infrastructure and securing a reliable, affordable, and clean energy supply will be vital to propelling industries from manufacturing to AI," he continued. "I'm proud of the work we did together through 2021 to solidify America's global leadership in energy, and I am excited to see how his new administration will build upon that powerful foundation for an even stronger energy future."
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