Meet the Man Who Said: Clean Energy Policies Are a Greater Threat Than Terrorism

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By Dave Anderson

Travis Fisher, a Trump political appointee in the Department of Energy, wrote a 2015 report for the Institute for Energy Research that called clean energy policies “the single greatest emerging threat” to the nation’s electric power grid, and a greater threat to electric reliability than cyber attacks, terrorism or extreme weather.


Fisher is now leading up a controversial grid study ordered by Sec. of Energy Rick Perry under the pretense of ensuring the long-term reliability of the nation’s electricity supply. If Fisher’s past writings on the topic are any indication, the forthcoming DOE study is sure to be a thinly veiled attack on renewable energy aimed at propping up outdated coal and nuclear power plants that can’t compete in today’s electricity market.

Rick Perry’s grid study sounds strikingly similar to the one Travis Fisher wrote for fossil fuel interests in 2015.

https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/866047157178126336 to argue that government should get out of energy. But I like the challenge.”

Who paid for Travis Fisher to serve on Trump’s Department of Energy landing team?

A list of landing team members on GreatAgain.gov, the Trump transition team’s website, disclosed Fisher’s “current or most recent employer” as IER, but did not list AEA—even though Fisher is listed as an “IER economist” and “AEA economist” on the groups’ respective websites. The transition team website also listed “funding source: private” for Fisher, while some other landing team members were identified as volunteers. The site did not disclose the private source of Fisher’s funding.

A separate financial disclosure filed by Fisher and published by The Intercept also disclosed his employment by IER, but not AEA. He also disclosed “Employment Assets and Retirement Plans,” which included his IER salary and related 401K, as well as his participation in the “Charles Koch Industries 401K.” In a section below titled, “Filer Employer Agreements and Arrangement,” Fisher disclosed to continue to participate in both 401K plans, but specified that both IER and the “Charles Koch Institute” would no longer make contributions. A Google search revealed no previous record of Fisher’s employment with the Charles Koch Institute.

Just the latest sign of IER, AEA influence over Trump

It’s no coincidence that, now that Donald Trump is in the White House, some of the same clean energy policies that Fisher targeted for attack in his 2015 grid study for IER are now being rolled back. As a candidate, Donald Trump was one of only two Republicans who responded to an AEA questionnaire. In his response to a question about the Clean Power Plan, Trump pledged that “all EPA rules will be reviewed.” Trump also pledged to rescind the Clean Power Plan while in the campaign trail.

During the Trump transition, an IER-AEA memo from the desk of Tom Pyle, which was obtained by the Center for Media & Democracy, predicted that the Clean Power Plan would be withdrawn by the Trump administration—even if courts upheld the rule. Pyle, IER and AEA soon got their wish. Trump signed an executive order that began the process of reviewing the Clean Power Plan during his first 100 days in the White House. His administration also hit the pause button on the EPA’s legal efforts to defend the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, another target of Fisher’s 2015 IER report, in court.

What’s next?

With Fisher at the helm, the DOE grid study ordered by Rick Perry could serve as a convenient excuse when the Trump administration’s “review” of the Clean Power Plan culminates in a real plan to “suspend, revise or rescind” the rule. It could also be used to justify attempts by the Trump administration to preempt state and local clean energy laws, though any such effort would face an uphill battle. Finally, the new DOE grid study could be used to reignite efforts to rollback renewable energy standards and net metering incentives at the state level. In any case, clean energy supporters will have no shortage of evidence at the ready to debunk any erroneous claims made by Fisher, and make the case that renewable energy is affordable, reliable and benefits our economy and the environment.

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