April 30, 2021 By Jim Myers
Washington, D.C. President Joe Biden has nominated former Obama administration official Michael Connor of Colorado to be assistant secretary of the Army for civil works.
Currently a partner in the law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr, Connor served as deputy secretary of the Department of the Interior from 2014 until 2017.
According to the White House, he played a key role in establishing water policies to address an unprecedented western drought, promoting renewable energy development on public lands and the outer continental shelf, developing science-based strategies to support landscape-level management of public lands and improving the federal government’s fulfillment of its trust responsibility to Native Americans.
Published: Friday, April 30, 2021
Michael Connor. Photo credit: U.S. Department of Interior/Flickr
President Biden has selected Michael Connor as his nominee for Department of Defense s assistant secretary of the Army for civil works. Connor, pictured at the far right at a 2015 service event, previously served as the Interior Department s deputy secretary. U.S. Department of Interior/Flickr
President Biden s pick this week to oversee the Army s vast natural resources operation would bring to the job decades of water experience at the Interior Department and on Capitol Hill.
The president tapped Michael Connor to be the Department of Defense s assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, which oversees the Army Corps of Engineers and its huge network of dams and other projects.
The White House
WASHINGTON – Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to serve in national security positions.
Frank Kendall, Nominee for Secretary of the Air Force, Department of Defense
Thomas A. Monheim, Nominee for Inspector General of the Intelligence Community
Gina Ortiz Jones, Nominee for Under Secretary of the Air Force, Department of Defense
Meredith Berger, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations, and Environment, Department of Defense
Michael Connor, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, Department of Defense
Ed Gonzalez, Nominee for Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security
ROB CHANEY
PABLOÂ â Minutes before the start of a Tribal Council meeting, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Chairwoman Shelly Fyant took a moment to consider the confirmation of Deb Haaland as Interior Secretary.
âIt gives me chills,â Fyant said. âGrandmothers all over the world are talking about the shift the world has taken â to have a Native American and a woman to serve an agency that hasnât always done the greatest job in Indian Country.â
Overcoming opposition led in part by Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines, Haaland earned a 51-40 vote in the Senate on Monday to join President Joe Bidenâs Cabinet. As Interior Secretary, Haaland oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Education, Indian Water Rights Office, Fish and Wildlife Service and other departments that have a direct impact on the Flathead Indian Reservation.