Trump CEQ Pick Profited from Oil Drilling, Energy Industry Speaking Fees

"Kathleen Hartnett White, President Trump’s nominee to head the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), has recently made money from both leases on oil drilling and speaking fees at conferences sponsored by the fossil fuel industry. These new details come from Hartnett White’s financial disclosure, obtained by DeSmog.     

If her nomination is confirmed, Hartnett White will be charged with interagency coordination of science, energy, and environmental policy and with overseeing crucial environmental review processes for new energy and infrastructure projects. The CEQ, a division of the Executive Office of the President, was established in 1969 as part of the landmark National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

A longtime vocal climate change science denier, Hartnett White directs the Center for Energy and the Environment at the conservative think tank Texas Public Policy Foundation. The foundation’s funders include several major oil and gas companies and climate-denying organizations such as ExxonMobil, the Heartland Institute, and Koch Industries."

Itai Vardi reports for DeSmog October 31, 2017.