The oil and gas industry is quickly amassing power in Trumps Washington
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-oil-and-gas-industry-is-quickly-amassing-power-in-trumps-washington/2016/12/14/0d4b26e2-c21c-11e6-9578-0054287507db_story.html?utm_term=.58b265db20f3
After eight years of being banished and sometimes vilified by the Obama administration, the fossil fuel industry is enjoying a remarkable resurgence as its executives and lobbyists shape President-elect Donald Trumps policy agenda and staff his administration.
The oil, gas and coal industries are amassing power throughout Washington from Foggy Bottom, where ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson is Trumps nominee to be secretary of state, to domestic regulatory agencies including the departments of Energy and Interior as well as the Environmental Protection Agency.
It feels like the grizzly bear in The Revenant has been suddenly pulled off our chest, said Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Association.
The energy sector is no stranger to political influence. The oil industry once claimed a president as its own: George H.W. Bush, who co-founded and ran Zapata Oil before becoming the nations 41st commander in chief.
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