ENERGY/NOMINATION/TRUMP PEOPLE: “U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday [10-3-18] nominated a proponent of his administration’s plan to subsidize aging coal and nuclear plants to a federal agency that regulates power transmission, a move criticized by environmental groups who questioned his independence on the issue. Trump nominated Bernard McNamee to the vacant seat of the five-member Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), an independent office of the Department of Energy, for a term expiring June 30, 2020. McNamee, a Republican, is now the head of the policy office at the department. McNamee helped to roll out last year a plan by Energy Secretary Rick Perry to subsidize aging coal and nuclear plants. The coal industry is suffering because of an abundance of cheap natural gas and an expansion of wind and solar power…Environmentalists decried McNamee’s nomination. The Sierra Club’s Mary Anne Hitt said the Trump administration is ‘trying to use FERC to manipulate America’s electricity markets to bail out dirty and expensive coal plants … while locking in a fossil fuel future for communities across the country.’”
–Timothy Gardner, “Trump nominates coal, nuclear bailout supporter to U.S. power agency,” Reuters, October 3, 2018 3:01 pm