Interior Department’s Chief of Staff Highlights Effort to Balance Goals

Tommy Beaudreau, chief of staff at the U.S. Department of the Interior, visited SIPA on February 26 to discuss his department’s energy and environmental priorities.

Among other things, Beaudreau highlighted the U.S. government’s efforts to strike a balance between meeting the nation’s energy demands and transitioning the nation to a cleaner, greener, energy future.

“So much of what we do is viewed through the prism of climate change,” Beaudreau said.

He said Interior has been empowered by the Obama administration to take into account the true cost of the United States’ energy use, which includes such non-financial indicators as carbon impacts and resiliency. This has allowed the department to pursue a bold strategy for combatting climate change that includes developing its own offshore wind-power leasing program “from scratch,” Beaudreau said.

Addressing SIPA students in the audience, Beaudreau—who spent most of his career in the private sector before transitioning to work for the federal government—stressed how rewarding it can be to work in the public sector.

“If you do have the opportunity to work in government, seize it,” he said. “It’s the most gratifying experience I’ve had in my career.”

The talk was hosted by the Center for Global Energy Policy. Inaugural Fellow David Sandalow served as moderator.

— Lindsay Fuller MPA ’16