The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will next week consider Undersecretary of Energy Mark Menezes’ nomination to the No. 2 spot at the Department of Energy.
The White House in March nominated Menezes as deputy secretary of energy. He would succeed Dan Brouillette, who became energy secretary in December.
After a career on Capitol Hill and in the private sector, including as an executive with Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Menezes became undersecretary of energy in November 2017. His work covers “driving transformative energy policy, and technology solutions through coordinated planning, management and performance of the Department’s energy programs,” according to Menezes’ official DOE biography.
Brouillette, in January, assigned Menezes authority to make decisions on agency operations covering all areas except for the semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
The Senate committee’s nomination hearing is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, May 20, in Room 106 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C. Panel members are authorized to participate in person or online, in keeping with safeguards to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“The Committee will follow guidelines developed in consultation with the Office of the Attending Physician and the Senate Rules Committee to protect the health of members, staff, and the public,” according to the notice for the hearing. “This includes maintaining six-foot social distance spacing in the hearing room. Pursuant to this guidance, Senate office buildings are not open to the public other than official business visitors and credentialed press at this time. Accordingly, in-person visitors cannot be accommodated at this hearing.”
