Rick Perry Is Trump’s Top Pick To Head Energy Department
By Tyler Durden
With many of the key cabinet positions in Trump’s administration having been filled, one major post remained open: that of Energy Secretary. However according to Bloomberg, the mystery is almost over as Donald Trump has narrowed his search for energy secretary to four people.
Which is amusingly ironic, because five years ago, Perry wanted to eliminate the Energy Department: in an infamous 2011 Republican primary debate, Perry forgot that the Energy Department was one of the three federal government agencies he wanted to do away with. The other two were the Commerce and Education Departments. According to some pundits, the gaffe may have cost him a shot at the party’s 2012 nomination.
Texas’ longest-serving governor Gary was indicted in 2014 for abuse of power and coercion after threatening to veto funds for a Travis County office that investigates corruption unless the district attorney, who had pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated, resigned. Another potential conflict of interest: Perry serves on the board of Energy Transfer Partners LP, the company whose pipeline project has drawn opposition in North Dakota and has become a rallying cry from environmentalists. While the Obama administration has stalled the project, Trump has said federal approvals for energy infrastructure need to come quicker.
As BBG notes citing two sources, two Democratic senators from energy-producing states – Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia – are also in the mix, along with Ray Washburne, a Dallas investor and former chairman of the Republican National Committee. If Trump picks any of the four he will break with recent tradition of putting scientists at the top of the Energy Department. Among other things, the agency is responsible for policies on the safe handling of nuclear material.
Some details on how the final four was selected: Trump met with former presidential candidate Perry and Washburne while attending the Army-Navy football game in Baltimore on Saturday. It was at least the second time he’d spoken to the two men for potential roles in the new administration. Trump met with Heitkamp at Trump Tower in New York on Dec. 2, and is scheduled to meet with Manchin in New York. Jay Martin Cohen, a retired Rear Admiral of the U.S. Navy, is said to be Trump’s choice for Under Secretary for Nuclear Security.
Two leading scientists have run the energy department during the Obama administration: Ernest Moniz, the incumbent, is a nuclear physicist who previously headed an energy initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His predecessor was self-professed nerd Steven Chu, a Novel laureate who directed the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and was a professor of physics and molecular and cellular biology.
The lack of yet another career scientist at the head of the DOE likely means that the US push against “climate change” will become decidedly more muted over the next few years.
Trump has promised to unleash domestic oil, gas and coal production, largely by rescinding “job-killing” rules and environmental regulations, without detailing specific plans for the Energy Department and its nuclear-heavy …read more
Source: Rick Perry Is Trump’s Top Pick To Head Energy Department
