On January 18, president-elect Joe Biden announced that he plans to nominate Elizabeth Klein, deputy director of the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center at NYU School of Law, to the post of deputy secretary of the US Department of the Interior.
Klein joined the State Impact Center, which supports state attorneys general in their advocacy for clean energy and climate and environmental laws and policies, at its founding in 2017. She served at the Department of the Interior during both the Bill Clinton and Barack Obama administrations—most recently as Interior’s associate deputy secretary as well as principal deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Policy, Management and Budget. Prior to her most recent government service, Klein was an attorney at Latham & Watkins specializing in energy and environmental law issues, and a law clerk at the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and its Environmental Enforcement Section.
Before receiving her JD at American University’s Washington College of Law, from which she graduated summa cum laude, Klein worked in various government relations and communications roles, including for the National Park Foundation and the Democratic Governors Association.
Posted January 19, 2021