Energy Sec. Nominee Rick Perry: I ‘Regret’ Recommending the Department’s Elimination

Perry’s senate confirmation hearing is set for Thursday, Jan. 19.

Former President George W. Bush’s last Energy secretary was Samuel Bodman, a chemical engineer and venture capitalist who also served in the Treasury Department.

“It’s hard to see how we can pursue an all-of-the-above-strategy if so much of the department’s all-of-the-above capabilities are eliminated”, Sen. “I have spoken several times to Secretary [Earnest] Moniz and his predecessors”. Hey, it’s a start. Perry said he learned from a briefing that the department performs many “vital functions”.

He believes in climate change.

“I believe the climate is changing”, he will say. Trump himself said Perry would “make sure we take advantage of our huge natural resource deposits to make America energy independent”, a task that generally falls under the purview of the secretary of the interior.

The most entertaining exchange of the hearing, however, came when Perry inadvertently made a sex joke to Democratic Sen.

A study conducted by the scientist who who helped expose that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) top midwest official knew about the Flint, Mich. drinking water crisis months before telling the public.

The Washington senator wanted to know about a questionnaire from Trump’s transition team. “I don’t need that information”, Perry said. Although he added, “don’t get me confused with the previous administration”. Current Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz was the former chairman of M.I.T.’s physics department and oversaw an actual particle accelerator, and former secretary Steven Chu won a Nobel Prize for his work on atomic physics. Trump promised to tear the deal up once in office.

Now, in his confirmation hearings, Perry faces questions about how he would run the agency – and if he understands the agency’s mission in general.

In both the cases of Romney’s “47 percent” comment and Perry’s “oops” gaffe, we may ascribe too much importance to one moment when it comes to these politicians’ fates.

He’s a proponent of nuclear nonproliferation – unlike (maybe?) Trump.

The problems with Perry’s “oops” gaffe are that it was (a) So instantly YouTube-able, (b) that Perry has continues to do things that remind us of it, and (c) that it reinforces everything his critics think about him. ” But Trump veered from that stance himself in recent weeks, particularly when it came to his newfound friends in Russian Federation”. It also leaves him unprepared to lead the massive nuclear program revamp now underway under Obama and current Secretary Ernest Moniz.

Perry has no experience making high-powered national security issues. Perry parried the question, saying carbon and sulfur dioxide emissions in Texas were lowered during his watch.

The Secretary of Energy is traditionally tasked with creating energy policy, helping develop new energy technologies, such as solar and wind power, maintaining the USA nuclear arsenal, and maintaining the integrity of the environment.