From WyoFile (Jennifer Yachnin):
Budd-Falen, who spoke with E&E News from her Cheyenne law office, said she has spoken with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke about the post, although she does not know when the Trump administration will select a nominee.
A spokesman for the Interior Department said this week he did not have any information on potential nominees or the selection process.
But while Budd-Falen, who served on the Trump administration’s transition team at Interior, acknowledged that she is interested in leading the agency, she added that she is torn about potentially leaving her home state.
“I live in Wyoming — where we don’t have humidity — and we really like it,” she said, referring to her husband, attorney Frank Falen. “We’ve got a law practice here … if the president and the secretary of Interior were to ask me to serve, I’d have to seriously, seriously consider that.”
Budd-Falen, who worked at Interior for three years during the Reagan administration, demurred when asked about her vision for the agency she could lead, saying she has “not really” focused on specifics and that she has not discussed Zinke’s plans to reorganize the department.