The Department of Energy said Tuesday it is refusing to cooperate with a Trump transition team request that it hand over all names of employees who have participated in international climate change conferences.
“We will not be providing any individual names to the transition team,” Energy Department spokesman Eben Burnham-Snyder said in a statement sent to the Washington Examiner.
Other than that, the agency plans to be “forthcoming with all publicly available information with the transition team,” he said.
News of the 74-question list from the Trump transition team arose last week. The questionnaire contains the controversial request that Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said Monday appeared to be “badgering” employees for supporting research on climate change. Udall is the top Democrat on panels under both the Senate Foreign Relations and Appropriations committees that deal with energy and environment policy and funding, where he likely will raise the matter.
The transition team’s request has quickly become a major issue between the Trump transition team, being led by free-market advocate Tom Pyle, who heads the industry-backed American Energy Alliance, and Democrats, who have seen it as nothing less than a “witch hunt,” according to Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The Energy Department’s refusal to hand over the names comes amid reports that Trump has chosen former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to run the department. Environmental groups are criticizing the expected nominee for being a strict climate change denier.
“The Department of Energy received significant feedback from our workforce throughout the department, including the National Labs, following the release of the transition team’s questions,” Burnham-Snyder said. “Some of the questions left many in our workforce unsettled,” he added.
“Our career workforce, including our contractors and employees at our labs, comprise the backbone of [Department of Energy] and the important work our department does to benefit the American people,” Burnham-Snyder said. “We are going to respect the professional and scientific integrity and independence of our employees at our labs and across our department.”
The Energy Department runs the nation’s premier fleet of national laboratories, the largest of any nation’s state-run labs. The Trump questionnaire requested information on the salaries of lab employees. It also sought information on the loan guarantee program that has faced scrutiny by the GOP in recent years over its funding of failed companies, such as the solar firm Solyndra.
