President Barack Obama is scheduled to make another nomination today and it'll be for the interior secretary position.
Ken Salazar is currently the interior secretary but is stepping down. President Obama will nominate retailer Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) President and CEO Sally Jewell as Salazar's successor.
The nomination was first reported by The Washington Post and further confirmed by a White House official to Politico.
The nomination of Jewell will likely be good news for environmental groups as she serves as a board member for the National Parks Conservation Association and previously a petroleum engineer at Mobil prior to its merger with Exxon.
According to Reuters, the role of the interior secretary include, "implementation of controversial rules governing the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, on public lands, oversee the push to drill in the Arctic, and guide the policies governing permits of renewable energy on federal land."
The Interior Department is also responsible for managing the national parks and forests across the U.S.
"Sally has overseen the growth of a $1.8 billion company consistently ranked among the best U.S. companies for which to work. An engineer by training, she is a practical, no-nonsense leader who is focused on results," said a former DOI official said in an email, according to Politco, later adding, "She knows Washington, D.C., but she also has the much-needed perspective of a business leader who has forged a career outside of D.C.'s partisanship and politics."
The nomination of Sewell will be the first woman Obama has announced for his second-term Cabinet, which has come under fire for its lack of diversity.
Obama is scheduled to announce Jewell's nomination during a ceremony in the White House's State Dining Room in the afternoon, according to a source to the AP.
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
