This post has been updated.
Donald Trump’s transition team is looking to identify staffers at the Energy Department who worked on climate policy under the Obama administration, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg News.
Transition advisers asked the Energy Department to provide a list of employees and contractors who attended United Nations meetings on climate and those who worked on metrics regarding the administration’s rules regulating carbon emissions, according to Bloomberg News.
Bloomberg News did not provide additional details on the Trump team’s request regarding staffers who worked on climate policy.
Politico obtained a copy of the memo to the Energy Department and reported that Trump’s team asked for a list of staffers who attended interagency working groups that discussed the social cost of carbon, a metric used to determine the economic impact of increasing or decreasing carbon emissions.
The questionnaire also asked “which programs within DOE are essential to meeting the goals of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan,” according to Politico.
Paired with Trump’s decision to nominate Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, the memo suggests that the Trump could target the Obama administration’s work on clean energy. Pruitt is a vocal opponent of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan to regulate carbon emissions and has expressed skepticism about the science behind climate change.
Sounds ominous. ID them so they can be let go? Can’t have any pesky pro-environment people around, can we?
But he has a mandate. Or maybe just a date with a man.
Clearly, the transition team wants to know who they should go to for expertise and advice on fighting this tremendous threat.
Well, they can’t be fired - Civil Service protections kick in instantly. But they can certainly be reassigned to work on something else, like doing promotional videos for coal.
And presidents don’t get more popular after they are in office. Indeed, the trend is usually just the opposite.