Exxon’s Former Executive Counsel Joins Trump DOJ’s Energy Division Amid Claims of Big Oil Capture

Robert Levy, who spent 17 years as executive counsel at ExxonMobil, announced his departure from the company to become senior counsel in the Justice Department’s newly renamed Energy and Natural Resources Division. The division, formerly the Environment and Natural Resources Division, was renamed last month under the Trump administration.

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President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign emphasized “massive, climate-destroying wins” for the oil and gas sector. After taking office, the administration reversed more than 145 environmental rules in its first 100 days—more than it had undone during the entire first term of the previous presidency. Legislative actions delivered $18 billion in tax incentives to fossil-fuel firms while reducing support for clean-energy alternatives. The DOJ’s division rename and the placement of industry lawyers are presented as part of a broader strategy to accelerate domestic energy production.

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• Robert Levy – Former ExxonMobil executive counsel, now senior counsel at DOJ.

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• Robert Weissman – Co-president, Public Citizen, a consumer-rights watchdog.

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• Alan Zibel – Research director, Public Citizen.

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• Owen Bacskai – Analyst, Brennan Center for Justice.

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• Public Citizen – Organization monitoring government-industry ties.

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• U.S. Department of Justice, Energy and Natural Resources Division – Agency defending Trump’s energy-related executive orders.

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• $18 billion in tax incentives granted to oil and gas companies.

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• 145 regulatory rollbacks enacted within the first 100 days of the Trump term.

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• Dozens of former fossil-fuel executives and lawyers placed in senior federal positions, according to Public Citizen’s analysis.

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The Energy and Natural Resources Division publicly framed its work as defending “Trump’s executive orders on unleashing American energy, reinvigorating the clean-coal industry, and declaring an energy emergency.” The division’s spokesperson emphasized that the rename reflects a focus on “energy security” rather than environmental regulation.

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Public Citizen argues the division “explicitly aims to abuse emergency powers to drive oil and gas production, override state environmental enforcement, and generally serve at the beck and call of Big Oil.” The organization also described the appointment as evidence of “a Texas oil industry takeover of the US government at the expense of consumers, the climate, public health, and public lands and waters.” Their analysis warned that the administration is positioned to expand polluting energy, destroy public lands, and suppress renewable projects.

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The sources provide no direct comment from the Justice Department or from Robert Levy regarding his new responsibilities. Details about how the division will operationalize its stated mission remain unspecified.

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• “the new so-called Energy and Natural Resources Division at the Justice Department explicitly aims to abuse emergency powers to drive oil and gas production, override state environmental enforcement, and generally serve at the beck and call of Big Oil.” — Robert Weissman, co-president, Public Citizen

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• “Nothing could make that more clear than the naming of Robert Levy, ExxonMobil’s former executive counsel, a position that had him leading the company’s legal strategy on advocacy and civil justice, to run the division,” — Robert Weissman

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• “The Justice Department that should be fighting to protect clean air and water and avert catastrophic climate change will now work on behalf of polluters to advance the poisoning of people and the planet.” — Robert Weissman

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• “This is nothing short of a Texas oil industry takeover of the US government at the expense of consumers, the climate, public health, and public lands and waters,” — Alan Zibel, research director, Public Citizen

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• “the massive expansion of polluting energy, the destruction of public lands, and the sabotage and suppression of renewable energy.” — Public Citizen analysis

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Public Citizen expects further industry-friendly actions from the Energy and Natural Resources Division, while watchdog groups plan to monitor upcoming DOJ decisions on emergency energy orders and potential litigation over the division’s expanded authority.

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