Seven people who made up the EPA transition team for President Donald Trump have mostly remained in the administration in permanent positions.
Emails obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News through a Freedom of Information Act request show that Trump’s transition named seven members of “the 2024 EPA ART,” or agency review team, who would engage with top career staff at EPA as they prepared for Trump’s upcoming term. The landing team was led by Anne Idsal Austin, as previously reported.
But the emails, which were sent by EPA’s deputy chief of staff for management, Wesley Carpenter, to senior career staff last December, reveal the names of six other transition team members for the first time. Many of them have moved into positions at EPA and other agencies that are key to Trump’s efforts to roll back environmental regulations.
Carpenter, the career EPA official who coordinated the presidential transition for the agency, told his colleagues in December to keep details about the transition team “close hold until further notice.” The Trump transition, in a departure from usual practice, never disclosed who served on the team. It hasn’t given a reason for the secrecy.
