Anti-Regulation Aide to Cheney Is Up for Energy Post

"He's got an incredible amount of authority and a portfolio seemingly without end," said a source familiar with policy discussions involving Hutto. "He's got his fingers in everything."

Appointment as assistant secretary would be a promotion, however, and could enhance Hutto's stature if he wanted to return to the private sector after President Bush leaves office.

Juleanna R. Glover, a former Cheney aide who worked with Hutto on Abraham's first Senate bid, said that he had earned his considerable power through his energy expertise and his "deeply principled conservatism."

"He's one of the foremost energy experts in Washington," she said, adding that he was "one of the original foot soldiers in the '94 recapture of Congress" by Republicans.

In recent months, Hutto has helped scale back a rule proposed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to protect North Atlantic right whales -- one of the most endangered animals on the planet -- from lethal ship strikes. The rule NOAA submitted 1 1/2 years ago originally would have required ships within 30 nautical miles of several East Coast ports to slow to 10 knots or less during parts of the year when the whales are migrating.

Acting on Cheney's behalf, Hutto questioned whether there was sufficient scientific evidence to justify the economic costs that the rule would impose on shippers. The White House plans to issue a revised ship strike rule next month that will reduce the perimeter around the ports from 30 to 20 nautical miles and will "sunset" the rule after five years. New England Aquarium research scientist Amy Knowlton said those changes would "undermine the scientific integrity of the rule," since right whales have been spotted within 30 miles of the ports.

On other occasions, Hutto has questioned whether NOAA was responding too slowly to energy industry petitions. Shell Oil petitioned the agency last year for an "incidental harassment authorization" that would have allowed it to injure or kill a small number of marine mammals in connection with oil and gas drilling off Alaska in 2008; Hutto inquired about getting a quicker decision on Shell's request in light of the Arctic's limited drilling season.

Shell later withdrew its request.

An administration official, discussing internal deliberations on the condition of anonymity, said Hutto did not pressure NOAA to approve Shell's request. "Chase and others wanted a yes-or-no decision, understanding that the decision to deny or grant the permit is within an agency's discretion," the official said.

The conservative positions taken by Hutto and the vice president's office have held wide sway in internal policy debates, but occasionally he was stymied, participants said. Burnett said that this year Hutto opposed tightening federal rules for smog-forming ozone -- which is linked to thousands of premature deaths each year-- and in 2005 he questioned why the EPA needed to limit mercury emissions from power plants, because the agency had just issued a rule that would have the incidental effect of somewhat reducing the toxic pollutant. In both instances, the EPA strengthened the protections over these objections.

Sources both inside and outside the administration said it is unclear whether Bush will formally nominate Hutto for the Energy Department post or place him there in an acting capacity. Kathy Fredriksen, an acting assistant secretary, currently holds the job.

Francesca Grifo -- who directs the Scientific Integrity Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group -- said that if Hutto takes the helm of the Energy Department's climate policy office, the impact could last well beyond Bush's term in office.

"It's not surprising that the Bush administration is considering a candidate who has a track record of putting politics ahead of science. Over and over again, appointments like this one have damaged the government's ability to protect the environment and public health," Grifo said, adding that in the coming months, Hutto could make policy decisions that the next administration would find difficult to reverse quickly.

Staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.