Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has elevated Wyoming lawyer Karen Budd-Falen to acting deputy secretary of the sprawling department.
The order signed by Burgum on Thursday puts an official in the critical No. 2 leadership role as President Donald Trump’s nominee for position, Kate Macgregor, waits for movement on the Senate confirmation process.
Budd-Falen, an alum of the Reagan and first Trump administrations, previously worked for the conservative Mountain States Legal Foundation. She has a long record of locking horns with federal agencies in land and regulatory disputes and has advanced legal arguments on federal deference to local laws and practices. A self-described “cowboy lawyer” in Wyoming, Budd-Falen has reportedly taken a position in the administration as associate deputy secretary.
The Interior Department declined to comment on the move.
