US President Donald Trump appointed dozens of officials with ties to the fossil fuel industry to his administration, including more than 40 from oil, gas, or coal companies, according to a recent report.
An Oct. 6 Public Citizen and the Revolving Door Project report examined the backgrounds of nominees and appointees to the White House and eight key agencies overseeing energy, environment, and climate policy.
The agencies include the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as the Interior and Energy departments, Britain’s The Guardian reported on Wednesday.
The report identified 111 "fossil fuel insiders and renewable energy opponents," including 43 who worked directly for coal, oil, or gas companies, such as Energy Secretary Chris Wright, former CEO of the fracking company Liberty Energy.
It also named lesser-known officials, including a former fracking executive now heading the Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, who reportedly told staff to avoid terms like "climate change" and "emissions." A senior White House policy adviser also previously held senior positions at major oil companies, including Shell.
Trump has repeatedly called climate change a "hoax," and since taking office has moved to remove official climate change data from government websites, worked to eliminate any mention of it in government documents, and sought to zero out any public funding for research into the climate crisis.
Researchers found 12 officials linked to fossil fuel-funded right-wing think tanks, such as the Texas Public Policy Foundation and Americans for Prosperity, an anti-environmental group founded by Charles and David Koch, the brothers who founded Koch Industries, the second-largest privately held company in the US. (David Koch died in 2019.)
Another 29 were former executives from polluting industries tied to fossil fuels, including chemicals, automaking, and mining, while others had links to utility companies or politicians promoting pro-coal, oil, and gas policies.
The Interior Department emerged as the most compromised agency, with 32 employees linked to polluting energy. It includes Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, a former North Dakota governor with longstanding oil industry ties who leases land to Continental Resources, led by major Trump donor Harold Hamm.
On his first day in office, using the slogan "Drill baby drill," Trump announced plans to boost domestic fossil fuel production and withdraw from the Paris Agreement, later rolling back and canceling funding for renewable energy incentives – even projects nearing completion – and expanding drilling and mining on federal lands.
By Asiye Latife Yilmaz
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr