Senate Committee Votes to Advance Fossil Fuel Advocate to Run Energy Information Agency
Vote comes after reports of turmoil at EIA, including slashing of reports, and reduced independence of the agency
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources today voted to advance the nomination of Tristan Abbey to lead the Energy Information Administration (EIA) to the full Senate. Abbey, who has built a professional career as a fossil fuel-financed activist, would be Trump’s pick to undermine key parts of the EIA’s work to bring non-partisan data to the public. Recent reporting has detailed turmoil at EIA, including cutbacks to a major report, and a decision to not publish the EIA’s International Energy Outlook for 2025. In response, Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program, issued the following statement:
“No nominee in EIA history has brought such ideological baggage to the role, let alone the biased positions that Abbey professes. The EIA was designed to be a nonpartisan, non-ideological entity that provides clear and consistent data about the energy landscape. The agency’s previous administrators have been apolitical academics and industry experts, even during Trump’s first administration.
“The current turmoil at EIA is part of a greater effort to undermine the role of data in understanding the state of energy of America. Putting Abbey at the top of the EIA may compromise public access to critical energy data and erode transparency in energy policy. The agency should not be run by extremist ideologues who could bar impartial government researchers from discussing the global transition to safer, more efficient energy sources.
“Undermining the EIA, which is used by everyone from public interest organizations, to industry trade associations, to the financial sector, will destroy the credibility of how the U.S. government talks about energy. As with every other thing Trump has done to destroy credibility and functionality of essential public interest functions, his nomination of Abbey to lead EIA is designed to undermine, compromise and destroy it.”
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