Mandy Gunasekara
Mandy Gunasekara is an American lobbyist, and former Chief of Staff of the EPA during the Trump administration. She is a republican from Mississippi.
Born in Mississippi, Gunasekara completed her Bachleor's degree in Media and Communications at Mississippi College in 2007 and her law degree at University of Mississippi in 2010.[1][2]
Gunasekara was an advisor to Senator Inhofe during the 114th congress.[3][4]
Gunasekara originally joined the EPA as a policy advisor in 2017. She resigned from the EPA in 2019 to lead a pro-Trump nonprofit in Mississippi until she rejoined the EPA as Chief of Staff in 2020.[4] As Chief of Staff, she sought to make the EPA a conservative institution. In practice, this meant downsizing. Gunasekara claims she was a significant force behind the US leaving the 2015 Paris Climate Accords. After Trump's first term, she worked at the Heritage Foundation where she helped write the climate section of the guiding document for Project 2025.[5][6] Gunasekara has stated that she does not desire to return to the EPA as part of Trump's second term, but that she may seek other positions in his administration.[7]
In 2023, Gunasekara ran for the Mississippi Public Services Commission. However, she was disqualified from the role because she did not meet the residency requirements.[7]
In October 2024, Gunasekara published a book titled Y’all Fired: A Southern Belle’s Guide to Restoring Federalism and Draining the Swamp.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO05/20230329/115609/HHRG-118-GO05-Bio-GunasekaraM-20230329.pdf.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Fisher, Michael. "Mandy Gunasekara". DeSmog. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
- ^ Perlman, Derek Kravitz,Al Shaw,Claire (7 March 2018). "Amanda Gunasekara Trump Town". ProPublica. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Eilperin, Juliet; Dennis, Brady (February 14, 2020). "She pushed Trump to exit the Paris climate agreement and roll back environmental rules. And she's returning to EPA as chief of staff". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 19, 2020. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
- ^ Waldman, Scott (28 July 2023). "Conservatives have already written a climate plan for Trump's second term". POLITICO. Archived from the original on November 10, 2023. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
- ^ Friedman, Lisa (4 August 2023). "A Republican 2024 Climate Strategy: More Drilling, Less Clean Energy". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 9, 2023. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
- ^ a b c Cama, Timothy (9 September 2024). "Trump-era EPA official says she was subpoenaed in federal probe". E&E News by POLITICO.
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