President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the renewables office at the Department of Energy lacks experience with one core part of the job: clean energy.

Audrey Robertson, tapped by Trump in February, is a C-suite and board veteran at oil and gas firms in the western U.S. She helped found Denver-based Franklin Mountain Energy, a since-sold natural gas fracking firm in the Permian Basin with an open investigation at EPA over recent Clean Air Act violations.

Robertson also sits on the board of Liberty Energy, the fracking services company led by Energy Secretary Chris Wright until his resignation in January. Earlier in her career, Robertson worked at Goldman Sachs and Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, an investment firm focused on fossil fuels.

Environmentalists say it’s malpractice to put an oil and gas executive atop the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, which for years has led research efforts on zero-emissions energy.

“Like most of Trump’s nominations, putting Audrey Robertson in charge of the DOE renewable energy office is no different than putting an arsonist in charge of the fire department,” Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, told POLITICO’s E&E News. “This is a government of the fossil fuel industry, by the fossil fuel industry and for the fossil fuel industry.”

The efficiency and renewable energy office at DOE, often referred to by its acronym EERE, covers a broad range of research and development on clean energy systems. EERE houses programs on solar, wind, geothermal, electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells. It also administers DOE efficiency regulations for home appliances and industrial equipment.

EERE was supercharged with the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, which authorized billions of dollars to research and demonstrate new low-carbon technologies at DOE.

In October, EERE doled out roughly $45 million in infrastructure law funds for EV projects, on top of $62 million in similar funding last March. In September, it awarded $90 million for states, cities and tribes to update energy codes for residential and commercial buildings.

Conservatives and industry leaders have lauded the Robertson nomination.

“Her innovative work at Franklin Mountain Energy, where she championed cleaner and more sustainable practices in oil and gas production, demonstrates her ability to drive meaningful change,” Missi Currier, president of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, said in a statement. “Audrey’s leadership will undoubtedly bring a fresh perspective and a commitment to advancing energy solutions for a better future.”

Robertson’s LinkedIn page says she is a member of the NMOGA board of directors.

Even some former Biden officials say Robertson’s nomination could benefit the next generation of energy systems.

“At the end of the day, a lot of the industry work that’s happening, especially in hydrogen and geothermal, relies heavily on oil and gas personnel and equipment,” said a former DOE official in the Biden administration who has left the federal government and was granted anonymity to speak freely. “I could make the argument that [Robertson’s experience] is a good thing. It remains to be seen.”

The office’s portfolio will depend on specific policy directives and funding authorizations passed with new legislation in Congress. The former Biden official said it would be challenging to retool the EERE office to boost fossil fuels.

“So much of what is spent at EERE is appropriated very specifically in statute,” the official said. “They may stop spending money on things and not doing anything with the office, but I can’t imagine they’re going to shift it too dramatically to things that are not in the renewables space.”

Still, environmental advocates say Robertson’s nomination is rife with potential conflicts of interest.

“Someone who co-founded an oil and gas company and has sat on the boards of at least three other oil and gas companies is the last person to be trusted with running the office charged with advancing the most affordable energy solutions,” Matthew Davis, vice president of federal policy at the League of Conservation Voters and former EPA scientist, said in a statement.

“Nominating another oil and gas executive continues the Trump administration’s actions to effectively ban clean energy like wind and solar, and advance dirty energy only policies across the board, which will just pad Ms. Robertson’s bottom line,” said Davis.

DOE did not respond to E&E News requests for comment, nor did it make Robertson available for an interview. A current DOE official who spoke to E&E News anonymously said Robertson is not actively involved in the department.

Lou Hrkman, a Trump first-term veteran, is currently principal deputy assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy at DOE. He’s a DOE veteran from Trump’s first term. Hrkman previously advised Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.), a chief opponent of a recent DOE efficiency regulation on gas stoves.

Robertson and Wright are part of a wave of Colorado personnel in Trump’s energy circles. The president also tapped Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, to run the Bureau of Land Management.

Details are scant surrounding Robertson’s appointment to Liberty’s board in 2021. At the time, Wright said Robertson had “extensive expertise in finance and accounting matters.”

She’s been involved with a host of energy companies in recent years. Two oil and gas firms where Robertson sat on the board of directors, Extraction Oil and Gas and Bonanza Creek Energy, merged in 2021 to form Civitas Resources.

According to her LinkedIn page, Robertson also helped found another company called Copper Trail Partners in 2016. The company does not appear to have a website. An address listed online for the company is for a Denver office building that houses different businesses, including ones called Syrup and American Consumer Credit Counseling.

Robertson likely benefited from the recent sale of Franklin Mountain Energy to Coterra Energy, a large gas producer. In January, Coterra said the purchase would expand its operations in the New Mexico side of the Permian.

Meanwhile, Franklin Mountain has an ongoing dispute with EPA. In January, before the Trump administration took power, the agency cited Franklin Mountain for Clean Air Act violations, including unauthorized emissions.

Coterra did not respond for comment. EPA spokesperson Jennah Durant said the violations are an “open enforcement matter,” declining to comment further.

Charlie Barrett, a thermographer and field ecologist in the Permian with the environmental group Oilfield Witness, said the violations should lead to a license suspension.

“You can’t vent or flare in New Mexico, but I see it constantly. Dozens of times a day,” Barrett said in an interview. “I’m far more likely than not to find emissions anywhere I go. It’s pretty easy. They’re just not in compliance, and the state does such a poor job of enforcing any regulation, in part because they don’t have capacity.”

In 2021, New Mexico banned most flaring and venting, the two most common forms of gas emissions.

Franklin Mountain in recent years has also had dozens of oil and gas spills at sites in New Mexico, according to state records compiled by Melissa Troutman, a climate and health advocate at the environmental group WildEarth Guardians. Troutman said in an email that the company had “39 spill incidents that resulted in 49 reports of different materials spilled” since its inception in 2018.

Troutman said those figures are “not a lot compared to other companies that have dozens every year.”

But, she said: “We really have no idea what the true spill numbers are due to lack of oversight.”

Franklin Mountain also recently earned a notable commendation. DarkSky International, an advocacy group focused on reducing light pollution, recognized three Franklin Mountain sites as “DarkSky Certified.” It’s the first such certification given to oil and gas sites.

“FME now has two DarkSky retrofit sites, and one site is certified as a DarkSky new build,” said the group in January. “The retrofits resulted in a 60% reduction in lighting energy consumption while still meeting or exceeding safety standards for lighting and an estimated 99% reduction in skyglow, or light scattering in the night sky, as viewed from a distant location such as Carlsbad Caverns National Park.”

Barrett downplayed the DarkSky certification.

“Wherever oil and gas goes, it brings destruction,” he said. “It destroys ecosystems.”

In less than two months in office, the Trump administration has withdrawn from the Paris climate accord, blocked the disbursement of clean energy grants, foreclosed new offshore wind leases, and put in place a full court press to build more gas plants and pipelines. He’s also renewed attacks on efficiency standards for home appliances and water heaters.

But there’s a problem for the Trump team. The costs for energy and electricity are rising quickly in the U.S., and Trump promised on the campaign trail to cut those costs in half. Advocates say EERE research could help to further drive down the costs of energy.

If confirmed as EERE chief, Robertson would oversee regulating home appliances that run on gas, such as stoves, boilers and water heaters. Strict appliance regulations generally mean manufacturers make equipment that runs on less gas than older products or no gas at all, in which case the appliances are powered by electricity.

Robertson would also be in charge of administering grants for solar, wind and other technologies that compete directly with gas in power markets.

Ethics watchdogs say that’s a conflict of interest, albeit unlikely a legally barred one.

“It’s the kind of thing I would be intensely uncomfortable about under the best circumstances,” said James Goodwin, policy director at the Center for Progressive Reform. “Everything that is supposed to exist to deal with this scenario doesn’t exist.”

Goodwin said Republican senators, who Robertson will rely on for confirmation, are showing no interest in vetting Trump nominees. He also pointed to Trump’s firing of inspector generals.

No Senate hearing is currently scheduled for the Robertson nomination.

“Surely, we could have found somebody to run this office who doesn’t bring these kinds of obvious conflicts of interest,” Goodwin said.

For years, EERE the office has handed out grants to cut costs for solar and other technologies. EERE lists several funding programs for solar and wind as currently “in review.” Other grant opportunities for those technologies are upcoming, according to the department.

Frank Maisano, a principal at the lobby group Bracewell, predicted EERE will continue to operate.

“There’s no doubt that this administration has a different outlook on EERE than the previous administration,” said Maisano. “But I do think they’re going to find value in EERE and molding it to the administration’s [energy] dominance agenda.”

The White House is directing agencies to submit reorganization plans by mid-April.

On the regulatory front, DOE has already delayed a host of Biden administration rules, which forced appliance producers to improve efficiency in their products to save energy.

For decades, DOE has been required by law to promulgate new efficiency rules. Supporters of the regulations say they cut utility bills for everyday Americans.

But Wright is committed to dismantling the appliance efficiency program.

“We are reversing policies that force consumers to pay more for clothes washers and dryers, hot water heaters, and dishwashers that deliver inferior performance,” Wright said in Houston. “Our goal is lower cost and higher performance. Is that radical?”