Government

Bureau of Reclamation Chief Nominated to DOI's No. 2 Slot

President Obama's decision to nominate Michael L. Connor, the Interior Dept.'s Bureau of Reclamation commissioner, as deputy Interior secretary has won praise from key senators.

Connor, whose nomination was sent to the Senate on July 31, has led BuRec since 2009. He was counsel to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee from 2001 to 2009. Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) calls Connor "a superb choice" for the Interior post. The energy committee's top Republican, Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), said of Connor, "I believe his integrity, work ethic and his ability to solve tough resource-related issues will make him an asset to the [Interior] secretary."

There will be no Senate action on Connor's nomination until after Congress returns in September, but the Wyden and Murkowski comments bode well for him. If confirmed, Connor would succeed David J. Hayes, Interior's No. 2 official from 2009 until the end of June. Hayes is a senior fellow at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in Menlo Park, Calif.

As ENR's former Washington Bureau Chief, Tom Ichniowski wrote about the federal government since the George H.W. Bush administration, and covered at least five major highway bills. A recognized expert on government policy on infrastructure and regulation, Tom is also a Baltimore native and Orioles fan who grew up rooting for Brooks and Frank Robinson. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia’s graduate school of journalism, where he once used “unrelentless” in a headline.

Post a comment to this article

Live: June 11, 2026 at 1:00 pm CDT Fleet operations generate a massive amount of data. The real challenge is breaking down silos to turn complex metrics into a clear roadmap for smarter, faster decision making. In this webinar, we move past basic tracking to show you how the right data identifies hidden vulnerabilities and stops wasteful spending.