Breaking news: members of the Trump administration might not be on the same page! Energy Secretary Rick Perry is in Japan and met with his Japanese counterpart Hiroshige Seko where he said, among other things, that the U.S. was still very much going to be a leader in solving environmental issues and expanding its use of clean energy even though the country is apparently leaving the Paris Climate Accord, much to Perry’s chagrin.
Perry also had to deal with his boss’s views about climate change itself. Does President Trump, as he has said numerous times in the past, believe that climate change is a hoax, possibly perpetuated as a Chinese conspiracy? Could that possibly explain why the President (seemingly) flippantly announced the country’s departure from the Paris Accord? That’d be “chasing a rabbit down a hole,” Perry said. Per the New York Times:
But, he added, “This deflection of ‘Oh, let’s go talk about do you really think that you have a president that believes in the climate at this level,’ well, then, I’m sorry, I’m just not going to participate in that. I’m going to tell you: Watch us.”
Perry now joins EPA head Scott Pruitt and UN ambassador Nikki Haley as administration officials who didn’t, when asked, say whether the President believes that climate change is real or not.
Perry, who once said he’d cut the department of energy if elected President, says he is having a great time in his new job and has been busy touring national labs and facilities. Also, the Department of Energy isn’t facing crippling cuts under Trump’s proposed budget, though specific sections of the department dealing with renewable energy are the aim of the bulk of the cuts.
(Via ABC News & New York Times)