Biden to select Brenda Mallory to lead White House environmental council: reports

President-elect Joe Biden will select Brenda Mallory to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), multiple news outlets reported Wednesday. 

Mallory is the director of regulatory policy at the Southern Environmental Law Center, and previously worked as CEQ’s general counsel during the Obama administration. 

The council advises the president on environmental policy and oversees implementation of environmental laws. 

During the Trump administration, CEQ oversaw rollbacks of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a 50-year-old law mandating environmental reviews of construction projects. 

A spokesperson for the Biden transition didn’t immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment. A Southern Environmental Law Center spokesperson declined to comment on Mallory’s behalf. 

In addition to her work at CEQ, Mallory has also served as acting general counsel of the Environmental Protection Agency. Overall she worked in the government for 17 years under both Democratic and Republican administrations. 

She recently told Reuters that she was being vetted for the CEQ role, and she’s “hoping at top of the priority list for CEQ is addressing changes Trump made to how CEQ implements NEPA.”

Environmental groups praised the reported selection of Mallory on Wednesday. 

“I have worked with Brenda and know that her expertise and common sense approach will make her an effective leader for environmental progress. She is deeply committed to following science and the law to protect the American people,” Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp said in a statement.