Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s early morning ouster by President Trump caught most by surprise, but it was a long time coming for some environmentalists who saw the former oil man as the wrong pick for U.S. diplomacy.
“America’s premier oil and gas booster should have no role in U.S. diplomacy at a time when we urgently need to transition off of fossil fuels,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch.
The group is targeting Tillerson’s proposed replacement, current CIA chief Mike Pompeo, who it refers to as a “climate denier” and therefore someone who “should not be leading the State Department” either.
“We urge the Senate to reject his nomination,” Hauter said.
The group’s call to the Senate may find a sympathetic ear from vocal Democrats such as Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Tom Carper of Delaware, who have used environmental and climate concerns to criticize Trump nominees. Republicans control the Senate and are able to confirm Pompeo with no Democratic assistance.
The anti-fossil fuel group 350.org had even stronger language when it came to Pompeo.
“We’ve gone from Exxon’s CEO to the Koch Brothers’ most loyal lapdog,” referring to Pompeo, said the group’s executive director, May Boeve. “Pompeo received over a million oil and gas dollars during his political career, has deep ties to the Kochs, and is a climate denier to the core.”
Tillerson had been considered a moderate when it came to climate change, reportedly supporting the Paris climate change deal and urging the president not to exit the global deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels. But it doesn’t seem like that matters so much from the left-leaning groups.
“Trump’s State Department is a vehicle for big oil and billionaires, regardless of whether Tillerson or Pompeo are at the helm,” Boeve said.
Food & Water Watch is also concerned that Pompeo’s past support for genetically modified crops will find its way into the State Department, promoting genetically modified crops around the world.
