Adds comment from Senator Murkowski on possible budget cuts
Former Texas governor Rick Perry today said he no longer wants to eliminate the US Energy Department, which he has been nominated him to lead, and instead vowed to defend the agency from possible budget cuts.
Perry at a confirmation hearing today also promised to advocate for US energy production and support what president-elect Donald Trump calls an "America first" energy strategy, which envisions more production and fewer regulations. Perry also told skeptical Democrats that he would protect the agency's staff and support ongoing research in science and energy.
The Energy Department had a budget this year of nearly $30bn, of which 80pc went to US nuclear weapons programs and basic science research. Even with a modest energy budget, including $791mn for its fossil fuel program, the agency sets influential energy efficiency standards and issues licenses required to export LNG.
Perry today said he would push other federal regulators to revise rules that have limited natural gas production, in part to make sure there is enough gas supply to meet demand from future LNG export terminals. And Perry noted the agency's work to support the use of coal, such as research to reduce its environmental impact.
Perry's nomination to lead the Energy Department was notable in part because he repeatedly called to eliminate the agency when he ran for president, only to famously forget its name at a televised debate in 2011.
Perry said he has since learned more about the agency's work and that he now regrets calling for its abolishment. Today he touted the agency's role in research that served as the "genesis" for hydraulic fracturing, and its efforts to direct science research and defend the US from cyberattacks.
Democrats at the hearing expressed alarm at reports that Trump administration officials have proposed eliminating offices at the Energy Department that support research into renewable energy, energy efficiency and fossil fuel energy. Trump's transition team did not respond for comment about whether those reports were accurate.
Senator Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said it was hard to see how eliminating those offices aligned with Perry's support for an "all of the above" energy strategy. Senator Angus King (I-Maine), who typically caucuses with Democrats, said it was "absolutely nuts" to cut the budgets of those offices.
Perry said he would push back on efforts to cut the agency's budget and made a self-deprecating joke about his debate gaffe when he forgot the agency's name. "Maybe they'll have the same experience I had and forget they said that," he said.
Democrats have worried the Trump administration will defund climate change research at the Energy Department and dismantle its energy efficiency rules. Those concerns heightened after Trump's transition team circulated a questionnaire seeking the names of agency staff working on climate issues, which some worried could be a prelude to a staff purge.
Perry distanced himself from the questionnaire, which was circulated a week before his nomination. The Trump transition team later said the questionnaire was unauthorized after it was leaked to the press.
"I did not approve it, I do not approve of it," Perry said.
Senate Energy committee chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) after the hearing said it was unclear if the Trump administration did, in fact, want to cut the budget for the Energy Department. But the reports of the reductions were concerning, she said.
"I want to make sure that [the Energy Department] is able to do the job that we have tasked it with, and it is significant," Murkowski said.
Republicans senators though indicated they support Perry and called on him to expedite permitting of LNG exports and find a permanent repository to store waste from nuclear generators. At least one Democrat on the committee, senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia), said he supported Perry for the position.
