Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumOrange Fuckstick Demands Names Of DOE Staff Who Attended Climate Conferences, Built Climate Policy
he Trump transition team has asked for a list of Energy Department employees and contractors who attended United Nations climate meetings and worked on key Obama administration climate policies, including the social cost of carbon, according to a Bloomberg report.
The requests, detailed in a memo sent to the Energy Department by the Trump transition team, suggests that President-elect Trump is not backing down from his campaign promises to completely abandon the Obama administrations approach to U.S. climate and energy policies, and instead adopt a policy that is much friendlier to fossil fuels and much more hostile to regulations that seek to curb greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
The social cost of carbon is a metric used to calculate the concrete benefits of certain climate policies basically, the economic damages associated with an increase in carbon emissions. Right now, the social cost of carbon is used in various kinds of rule-making, from the Department of Energy to the EPA. But Republican lawmakers have long been critical of the metric, and Donald Trumps energy advisers have made no secret of their desire to kill the metric altogether.
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According to two Energy Department employees, who spoke with Bloomberg on the condition of anonymity, the memo sent to agency staff unsettled many within the agency. But a person close to Trumps transition team told Bloomberg that the memo was merely meant to ensure transparency on the formation of existing, Obama-era policy. In addition to seeking information about specific staff and contractors, the memo also singled out the Departments Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) unit, which has helped support research and development of clean energy projects. According to Bloomberg, the transition team asked for a complete list of ARPA-Es projects, as well as specific information on Mission Innovation,an agency initiative meant to accelerate the public and private transition to clean energy, and Clean Energy Ministerial, a global forum aimed at advancing clean energy technologies.
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https://thinkprogress.org/trump-transition-team-singles-out-energy-department-employees-f6c627624ef#.xn5d1vtg4
DetlefK
(16,438 posts)riversedge
(72,099 posts)y" will and are making demands. I would delay any requests. Let the new folks to their own digging.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,011 posts)and that is scary. Real scary.
It says, in black and white, how dangerous he is to the planet's survival.
This:
mackdaddy
(1,559 posts)Even someone wearing glasses may be an intellectual and believe in global warming, and must be purged.
OKIsItJustMe
(20,221 posts)by Catherine Traywick and Jennifer A Dlouhy
December 8, 2016 11:34 PM EST[font size=4]
- Advisers seeking to identify staff involved in climate policy
- Document drills down into agency operations with 65 questions
The transition team has asked the agency to list employees and contractors who attended United Nations climate meetings, along with those who helped develop the Obama administrations social cost of carbon metrics, used to estimate and justify the climate benefits of new rules. The advisers are also seeking information on agency loan programs, research activities and the basis for its statistics, according to a five-page internal document circulated by the Energy Department on Wednesday. The document lays out 65 questions from the Trump transition team, sources within the agency said.
On the campaign trail, Trump promised to eliminate government waste, rescind "job-killing" regulations and cancel the Paris climate accord in which nearly 200 countries pledged to slash greenhouse gas emissions. Trump, though, hasnt detailed specific plans for federal agencies. The document obtained by Bloomberg offers clues on where his administration may be headed on energy policy, based on the nature of questions involving the agencys research agenda, nuclear program and national labs.
The document also signals which of the departments agencies could face the toughest scrutiny under the new administration. Among them: the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, a 7-year-old unit that has been a critical instrument for the Obama administration to advance clean-energy technologies.
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Boomer
(4,225 posts)The only question is whether it's in the first 100 days or the first year.