The Interior Department’s No. 2 is stepping down at month’s end, leaving open a role in the Biden administration that oversees some of its most controversial decisions on oil, energy and conservation. Tommy Beaudreau, will leave after two years as deputy interior secretary, during which he oversaw the approval of the Willow Alaskan oil project and a deal to protect the Colorado River’s water supply. An energy lawyer who spent part of his childhood in Alaska, Beaudreau became a point person on the administration’s effort to overhaul mining rules, enhance conservation measures, and speedup the build out of renewable energy and transmission on federal lands.

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• E&E News: Tommy Beaudreau — Interior’s second-in-command — heads for the exit
• U.S. Department of the Interior: Deputy Secretary Beaudreau to step down at Interior Department