Gov.-elect Ralph Northam has named one of his former legislative aides, currently a senior adviser to a key congressional committee, as Virginia's next secretary of Natural Resources, one of two Cabinet picks announced Thursday.
The selection was also one watched closely by environmental groups who want a change of tack under the new administration on some major issues such as coal-ash cleanup and the planned construction of a pair of natural gas pipelines through the state.
Matt Strickler, currently a senior policy adviser to the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Natural Resources, will oversee six state agencies: the departments of Conservation and Recreation; Environmental Quality; Game and Inland Fisheries and Historic Resources; as well as the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and the Virginia Museum of Natural History.
