• CERAWEEK
  • March 10 - 14, 2025

Tommy Beaudreau

WilmerHale

Co-Chair, Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Practice

Tommy Beaudreau is Co-Chair of WilmerHale’s Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Practice. Mr. Beaudreau focuses his practice on a broad range of areas including conventional and renewable energy and large-scale infrastructure projects; environmental regulatory, litigation and enforcement matters; crisis management and response; and Tribal matters. In addition, Mr. Beaudreau leads internal investigations and responses to government investigations and congressional oversight. Mr. Beaudreau served in senior leadership roles in the United States Department of the Interior for nearly a decade across two administrations. Most recently, he served at the Deputy Secretary of the Interior after being confirmed by the US Senate in June 2021 by a vote of 88-9, reflecting his strong reputation as a bi-partisan problem solver. In this role, Mr. Beaudreau was point on the most pressing and high-profile matters before the Department, including energy development on public lands and waters, water infrastructure and delivery to address sustained drought in the American west, infrastructure permitting and critical minerals development, implementation of the historic investments through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, and a broad range of priorities relative to Indian Country. Mr. Beaudreau previously served for nearly seven years at the Department of the Interior (DOI) during the Obama Administration, including as the first director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Acting Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, and chief of staff for the Interior Department. Deeply knowledgeable about energy and permitting matters, environmental laws and regulation, water rights and other natural resource issues, Mr. Beaudreau is also an authority on tribal issues and has worked with Tribal governments and Alaska Native Corporations on a range of matters. He is an experienced crisis manager who originally joined the federal government in 2010 to help lead DOI’s response and reforms during the Deepwater Horizon crisis. Mr. Beaudreau has decades of experience as a litigator and has led dozens of internal investigations and responses to regulatory investigations and enforcement matters and Congressional oversight matters.

Sessions With Tommy Beaudreau

Thursday, 21 March

  • 11:55am - 12:45pm (CST) / 21/mar/2024 04:55 pm - 21/mar/2024 05:45 pm

    Forging Ahead: Critical minerals and the energy transition

    Mining, Minerals and Materials

    As the key components of batteries and electrification technologies, demand for copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and other critical minerals is expected to grow exponentially. The supply chains to bring these commodities to market face an array of trade, permitting and social, economic, and political challenges. Can governments and industry overcome these challenges and ensure security of supply of essential energy transition minerals? Is there the capacity to bring on new supplies in a timely way? Could supply deficits risk upending transition goals?