In his latest effort to drag American back to the 1950s, Donald Trump has appointed former Koch Industries lobbyist Thomas Pyle to handle his Energy Department transition. Trump not only envisions an era where white Americans ruled supreme, but also one where everything ran on fossil fuels and polluters could pollute with impunity.
Pyle is the former head of the Institute for Energy Research, Koch-funded group that has lobbied to halt the development of green energy sources. According to the Los Angeles Times:
For years, Pyle has led a coordinated national assault on renewable power. His groups and others that belong to the sprawling network bankrolled by Charles and David Koch, whose vast fortune stems originally from oil refining, pressure lawmakers to roll back policies that promote green power. The Koch network gave Pyle’s groups $3 million in 2015.
Pyle’s group is a leader in climate denial. They reject the scientific consensus that rising gobal temperatures exceeding 2 degrees Celsius would have devastating consequences.
Trump has already shown that he favors a disastrous environmental policy that would stop all Federal efforts to fight global warming. But it’s even worse than that. Trump’s shortsighted policy will also cede leadership in the nascent green energy industry to China., causing lasting damage to the American economy.
“The economic damages incurred achieving that goal would be greater than the damage caused by a warming world,” said Daniel Simmons, vice president for policy at the Institute for Energy Research.
Abandoning the industries of the future while clinging to old, outdated technologies is hardly a formula for making America great. Appointing more lobbyists funded by multibillionaires is also not a formula for fixing the rigged political system and standing up for the little guy. Who knew that ”draining the swamp” meant literally destroying wetlands to drill for oil underneath?