Kathryn E. Kovacs

Kathryn E. Kovacs serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the U.S. Department of the Interior exercising the delegated authorities of the BSEE Director. In her role, Kovacs promotes safety, protects the environment, and conserves resources through regulatory oversight of energy operations on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, including both conventional oil and gas and the growing renewable energy sector.

Kovacs's extensive public service career includes time as Senior Advisor to the Director of the Bureau of Land Management in 2016, where she managed key rulemaking and policy efforts and coordinated litigation on issues ranging from land use planning to North Slope oil and gas development. As Deputy Assistant Secretary, she has played a pivotal role in advancing the Biden-Harris Administration’s priorities on oil and gas development, carbon sequestration, and renewable energy both on- and off-shore.

Before joining DOI, Kovacs spent over a decade as a professor of law at Rutgers University, where she taught and published extensively on administrative, environmental, and natural resources law. Her scholarship is highly regarded, and her co-edited digital collection, The Bremer-Kovacs Collection: Historic Documents Related to the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946, won the prestigious Joseph L. Andrews Legal Literature Award in 2022. She has also held visiting professorships at the George Washington University Law School and the University of Iowa and lectured internationally, including at the University of Cambridge.

Earlier in her career, Kovacs served for 12 years as an attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, Appellate Section, where she litigated complex cases involving environmental, administrative, and constitutional law. Her legal expertise earned her several awards for outstanding performance and recognition for her contributions to the field.

Kovacs earned her J.D. cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center and her B.A. cum laude from Yale University. Throughout her career, she has remained deeply committed to public service, environmental protection, and the rule of law. In her leadership role at BSEE, she continues to prioritize safety, responsibility, and innovation in the offshore energy sector while fostering collaboration with Tribal Nations and key stakeholders.