Sarah Palin says that she should be the Secretary of Energy and that in that capacity she would eliminate the Department of Energy. Among the many things she is unaware of is that the largest part of the Department of Energy's budget goes to nuclear weapons and naval nuclear power. For fiscal year 2016 DOE has a requested budget of $29 billion of which almost $13 billion is for the National Nuclear Security Administration. DOE's budget request includes the following,
The FY 2016 Budget Request for nuclear security is $12.6 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), an increase of $1.2 billion over the FY 2015 Enacted level, to maintain a safe, secure, and effective nuclear weapons stockpile in the absence of nuclear testing and manage the research, development, and production activities and associated infrastructure maintenance and modernization needed to meet national nuclear security requirements. The Request funds efforts to reduce the global threat posed by nuclear weapons, nuclear proliferation and unsecured or excess nuclear materials, and it supports activities that provide safe and effective propulsion for the U.S. nuclear Navy.
So Sarah would not only eliminate development and testing of our nuclear stockpile and funds to safeguard and eliminate the nuclear weapons of other countries, but also eliminate all of our aircraft carriers and submarines, which rely on nuclear power. Oops!
In fact the total for atomic energy and other defense activities is $17.6 billion for 2016.
But as with most Republican presidential candidates dating back to Reagan who have proposed elimination of the Department of Energy, none of these people have a clue as to what the Department of Energy does.
A good example of that cluelessness is revealed in the following statement by Palin
I think a lot about the Department of Energy, because energy is my baby: oil and gas and minerals, those things that God has dumped on this part of the Earth for mankind's use instead of us relying on unfriendly foreign nations,
Ah yes, "oil and gas and
minerals". Apparently Palin thinks that the Department of Energy is responsible for activities conducted by the Minerals Management Service in the Department of the Interior. But as she says, she "thinks a lot" about the Department of Energy. It's too bad her thinking hasn't gotten past soundbites to at least a minimal level of looking at the Department of Energy's budget.
Palin is also part of that fringe group that wants to basically turn over all of the natural resources of the United States to the various states.
I'd get rid of (the Energy Department). And I'd let the states start having more control over the lands that are within their boundaries and the people who are affected by the developments within their states. If I were in charge of that, it would be a short-term job, but it would be ... really great to have someone who knows energy and is pro-responsible development to be in charge."
Wouldn't that be great. Since much of the mineral wealth of the United States is contained in lands controlled by the Bureau of Reclamation, the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Forest Service, we could basically get rid of all of those agencies and simply have the states take over their functions. Nothing says freedom like having individual states control our natural resources. And I guess if the United States needed any of those resources for national defense or some other purpose he could always buy them back.