Top White House environment adviser departs administration

Energy & Environment Top White House environment adviser departs administration Comments: by Rachel Frazin - 07/07/26 5:00 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Rachel Frazin - 07/07/26 5:00 PM ET Comments: Link copied

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Katherine Scarlett, a top environmental policy adviser in the Trump White House, has departed, an official confirmed to The Hill.

Scarlett chaired the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), where she led a rollback of federal environmental standards for new infrastructure projects.

According to Bloomberg Government, which first reported her exit, Scarlett is headed to consulting firm CGCN Group.

Rachael McNitt, who is the CEQ’s chief of staff, is serving as its acting chair, an administration official told The Hill.

The CEQ is in charge of implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act, which mandates environmental reviews of construction projects.

Historically, the stringency of regulations implementing the bedrock environmental law has ping-ponged between Democratic and Republican administrations. Democrats have generally preferred stricter regulations, while Republicans have argued that rules that are too stringent inhibit the nation’s ability to build projects efficiently.

Under Scarlett, the Trump administration rescinded White House regulations — some dating as far back as 1978 — that detailed how environmental analyses should be conducted by government agencies. Amid the rescissions of the overarching government guidelines, agencies issued their own guidelines for how they will conduct environmental reviews.

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