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Friday, June 29th, 2018

Trump stacks key renewable energy office with former Koch officials

Author:     MARK HAND
Source:     Think Progress
Publication Date:     JUN 22, 2018, 12:43 PM
 Link: Trump stacks key renewable energy office with former Koch officials
Stephan:   The Trumplicans all applaud and cheer for Trump. As they do so the level of corruption in the Trump Reich goes merrily on, as this report describes, and the quality of your life will be negatively impacted. The complete failure of Republicans in congress to perform their Constitutional duties, their toadying to Trump, placing personal position and party above national wellbeing you would think would provoke massive citizen pushback. And there is some. But no where near what is needed. The election in November is going to determine the the kind of country your children and their children, and you yourself will live in. Tonight I was told by a woman that she wasn't sure she would vote since "they're all the same." My contempt for what she was saying must have been obvious on my face because she stopped in mid-sentence very quickly changed the subject, said about three words, and scuttled away.

To fill key positions in the renewable energy and energy efficiency office at the Department of Energy (DOE), the Trump administration is lifting people straight from the Koch brothers’ numerous anti-clean energy efforts.

Next week, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will consider the nomination of Daniel Simmons, who spent years working for anti-renewable energy groups funded by the Kochs, to head the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).

Simmons was previously the vice president for policy at the Institute for Energy Research (IER). He held the same position at the American Energy Alliance, the advocacy arm of IER. Both are Koch-funded groups. In 2015, AEA, called for Congress to use 2016 budget cuts to “eliminate” EERE. Simmons, who has been leading EERE on a temporary basis since the spring of 2017, has also questioned the value of promoting renewable energy sources.

In keeping with President Trump’s mission to slash regulations, the administration has nominated and hired people whose policy positions directly conflict with the mission of the agency where they serve. As temporary head of EERE, Simmons has been working with many like-minded individuals, including other officials who came from Koch-funded groups.

Earlier this year, DOE hired a longtime policy analyst for Koch-funded groups to serve […]

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