by Jerry Cornfield, Washington State Standard
December 5, 2024
Gov.-elect Bob Ferguson is tapping a Biden Administration official to lead the state’s Department of Ecology and to keep Washington at the forefront of the nation’s fight against the damaging effects of climate change.
Ferguson named Casey Sixkiller, regional administrator of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, to guide the department responsible for carrying out the state’s ambitious climate policies enacted under outgoing Gov. Jay Inslee.
“Casey has the ability to craft practical solutions to complex problems, which will be critical to getting big things done and moving our state forward,” Ferguson said in a statement.
Also this week, Ferguson named Tim Lang, a senior assistant attorney general, as the next secretary of the Department of Corrections. Lang is the department’s chief legal counsel and a member of the agency’s executive strategy team.
Lang, who has been with Ferguson throughout his tenure as attorney general, will succeed Secretary of Corrections Cheryl Strange.
“His extensive background in legal matters concerning corrections, coupled with his understanding of the challenges facing our state’s facilities, makes him the ideal candidate to lead the Department of Corrections,” Ferguson said in a statement.
With the two appointments, Ferguson has now chosen six department heads ahead of his inauguration on Jan. 15.
President Joe Biden appointed Sixkiller in 2022 as the EPA administrator for Region 10, which covers Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska and 271 tribal nations. He will succeed Laura Watson who will be chief deputy attorney general for the next attorney general, Nick Brown.
Prior to the federal appointment, Sixkiller served as deputy mayor of Seattle and chief operating officer of King County. He is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation.
Inslee praised the selection of Sixkiller.
“I’ve known Casey for a long time. I have a huge respect for him personally. He’s done a great job for EPA and I’m happy he’s going to be able to carry on the great work at Ecology,” he said Wednesday.
Sixkiller is the first person Ferguson has named to lead a department who is not currently working for the state.
Ferguson has said he will re-appoint Marcus Glasper as director of the Department of Licensing and David Puente Jr. as director of the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs. Both men were named to their positions in 2023 by Inslee.
Strange is delaying a planned retirement to serve as acting secretary of the Department of Social and Health Services in the next administration. She ran the agency from 2017 to 2021.
Ferguson previously named K.D. Chapman-See as his director of the Office of Financial Management. She will be the point person helping him construct state spending plans under the threat of a multi-billion dollar budget shortfall.
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