Industry cheers Trump’s oilmen for energy and state secretary posts
Former Texas governor Rick Perry selected to head the Department of Energy, while legislators fret over oilman Rex Tillerson’s ‘close ties’ to Russian leader Vladimir Putin
Washington — US president-elect Donald Trump has chosen former Texas governor Rick Perry to head the US Department of Energy, a source close to the transition said, putting him in charge of an agency he proposed eliminating during his bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. The choice of Perry adds to the list of oil-drilling advocates sceptical about climate change who Trump has picked for senior positions in his Cabinet, worrying environmentalists but cheering an industry eager for expansion. The department is responsible for US energy policy and oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons programme. Perry has advocated lighter regulation on the fossil fuel industry, and has called the science around climate change "unsettled". Earlier Trump announced Exxon Mobil CE Rex Tillerson as his choice for US secretary of state, despite concerns from legislators in both political parties over the oilman’s ties to Russia and President Vladimir Putin. Tillerson’s experience in diploma...
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