Energy Secretary Perry publicly promotes coal over clean energy

At an energy conference in New York, Energy Secretary Rick Perry forcefully backed the Trump administration’s agenda to double down on fossil fuels at the expense of clean energy. He even acknowledged that the White House’s proposed deep budget cuts for his department would result in less funding for renewable energy. Perry also expressed his support for sticking with the international Paris climate agreement—but only after softening our country’s commitment. “I’m not going to tell the president of the United States to walk away from the Paris accord,’” he said. “I will say that we need to renegotiate it.” The White House is expected to announce whether it will remain in the climate change agreement before the G-20 meeting next month.