The energy industry’s plugged-in news source, Western Wire, says two politically prominent Coloradans are among the three people said to be candidates for the Environmental Protection Agency’s next Region 8 director. Reports Western Wire’s Michael Sandoval:

Todd Parfitt, Patrick Davis, and Doug Benevento have been named by E&E News or confirmed by multiple industry sources to be under consideration for the top EPA job covering Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, North and South Dakota, and 27 Tribal Nations.

Parfitt is director of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. As to the Coloradans:

Davis, a political consultant and Trump “beachhead” team for the agency, had at least two Congressional backers, Rep. Bob Bishop (R-Utah) and Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.). Both submitted letters to the EPA, according to E&E News, supporting Davis. …

… Benevento, Vice President of Public Affairs at Xcel Energy and former executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, has also been named, multiple independent sources confirmed.

Davis, who lives in Colorado Springs, is well-known in national Republican political circles and is a former political director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Benevento is a longtime figure in Colorado Republican politics. He served in the cabinet of former Republican Gov. Bill Owens as well as on the Douglas County School Board that ushered in the school district’s much-debated school-voucher plan