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USA Democrats question Dan Brouillette, (Next DOE Secretary) on nuclear and coal

Trump energy pick faces questions on coal, nuclear power,Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) 17 Nov 19- President Donald Trump’s pick to run the U.S. Energy Department faced questions on emissions from energy operations and the future of nuclear power at his U.S. Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday, but was greeted warmly by senators from both parties who want to see him quickly confirmed.

Dan Brouillette, 57, a former lobbyist at Ford Motor Co and Louisiana state energy regulator, would replace Rick Perry, who has said he is stepping down on Dec. 1.

Perry became known as one of the “three amigos” in a side-channel Ukraine policy led by Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, that has been at the center of the Trump impeachment probe. ……

Brouillette, currently the department’s deputy secretary, faced questions from Manchin and Senator Ron Wyden, another Democrat, about his involvement in Ukraine. But Brouillette said his involvement was strictly about how U.S. energy supplies could help the country, and that he was not in any of the conversations being probed in the U.S. House. …….

Brouillette told Republican senators from Wyoming and Louisiana that he supports technology on curbing climate change by capturing and storing underground carbon dioxide from coal and natural gas facilities, adding that fossil fuels would power a large portion of global energy needs for the next 40 to 50 years……

Brouillette also said he wants to support development of advanced nuclear power plants, hopefully one day bringing microreactors that provide relatively small amounts of power to remote places like rural Louisiana, where he was born, to Alaska……

Democratic senators not on the Energy Committee, including Ed Markey and Tim Kaine, sent Brouillette a letter on Wednesday asking whether he supported nonproliferation standards in any deal on sharing U.S. nuclear power technology with Saudi Arabia, a question he will likely continue to face if he is confirmed.

Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Peter Cooney and Tom Brown  https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-energy/trump-energy-pick-to-face-questions-on-coal-nuclear-power-idUSKBN1XO1OH

November 18, 2019 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized