Trump Nominee Would Undermine Independence of Energy Data Agency
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will today hold a confirmation hearing for Tristan Abbey, President Trump’s nominee to be administrator of the Energy Information Administration (EIA). 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. Abbey wrote a report touting LNG exports that failed to acknowledge the role LNG exports play in raising prices to American consumers.
In response, Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program, issued the following statement:
“The U.S. Energy Information Administration is an essential, respected federal agency that everyone from public interest organizations, to industry trade associations, and even financial traders rely upon for accurate, transparent data production. 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.
“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.
“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.”
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