Trump nominates finance executive for DOE science undersecretary

President Donald Trump has nominated Paul Dabbar, an investment banker with J.P. Morgan Chase in New York City, to be the Department of Energy’s (DOE's) undersecretary for science.

If confirmed by the Senate, Dabbar would succeed Franklin "Lynn" Orr in the post. Orr left the post this past January.

According to a White House statement released today, “Dabbar is Managing Director for Mergers & Acquisitions for J.P. Morgan, and has over $400 billion in investment experience across all energy sectors including solar, wind, geothermal, distributed-generation, utility, LNG, pipeline, oil & gas, trading, energy technology, and has also led the majority of all nuclear transactions.”

Here is the rest of the White House’s statement:

Before joining J.P. Morgan, Mr. Dabbar served as a nuclear submarine officer in Mare Island, California, and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, including deploying to the North Pole where he conducted environmental research. He also currently serves on the Department of Energy Environmental Management Advisory Board. He has been a lecturer at the U.S. Naval Academy Economics Department, and conducted research at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Mr. Dabbar received a B.S. degree from the U.S. Naval Academy, and an M.B.A. degree from Columbia University. Mr. Dabbar and his wife, Andrea, are the parents of two children. They reside in Scarsdale, New York, and Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Under former President Barack Obama, DOE's science undersecretary oversaw the department's $5 billion Office of Science, as well as other offices, including those involved in energy efficiency, renewable energy, fossil energy, and nuclear power. It is not clear how the department will be organized under Energy Secretary Rick Perry.

According to federal campaign finance records, Dabbar has made substantial donations to Republican candidates and J.P. Morgan's own political action committee.