AUSTIN –The Texas Public Policy Foundation today announced that Doug Domenech joins the Foundation as director of the newly launched Fueling Freedom Project. The project is a state effort to build a coalition to push back on the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Clean Power Plan, which represents a federal takeover of the entire U.S. system of electric generation. The Fueling Freedom Project seeks to secure interstate compacts in order to restore state authority over electric generation and environmental regulations.
“We are thrilled to welcome Doug Domenech to TPPF,” said Foundation President and CEO Brooke Rollins. “His expertise on energy and environmental resources at the federal and state levels puts him in a unique position to spearhead this endeavor to protect state sovereignty in determining our energy needs.”
“It is an honor to have Doug Domenech join the TPPF team,” said Distinguished Senior Fellow-in-Residence and the Director at the Armstrong Center for Energy & the Environment Kathleen Hartnett White. “Doug’s knowledge and experience makes him well-equipped to lead this effort to defend state’s rights and the right of all Americans to affordable energy.”
"I am excited to be joining the Texas Public Policy Foundation," said Domenech. "TPPF is well known across the country for its outstanding work and leadership promoting liberty, personal responsibility, and economic freedom."
Domenech most recently served as Secretary of Natural Resources for the Commonwealth of Virginia. A member of the Governor’s Cabinet, he managed six state environmental, natural and historic resource agencies with an annual budget of $480 million and over 2,000 employees. He also served as a part of the Governor’s “all-of-the-above” energy policy team supporting development of both conventional and renewable energy resources in the state.
Prior to his appointment as Secretary, Domenech served in a number of positions in the George W. Bush Administration at the U.S. Department of the Interior, the nation's principal conservation, natural resource, and science agency. These included as the Department’s White House Liaison and as Deputy Chief of Staff. As a senior member of the Interior Secretary’s staff, he was part of the management team that oversaw eight federal agencies, 75,000 employees, and a budget of $13 billion.
Doug is a forestry and wildlife graduate of Virginia Tech, and worked in the forest industry prior to hold several other executive management positions.
Brooke L. Rollins is President and CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Kathleen Hartnett White is a Distinguished Senior Fellow-in-Residence and the Director at the Armstrong Center for Energy & the Environment. Former Chairman for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (2001-2007).
The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin, Texas.