While applauding the end of former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson’s tenure as Secretary of State, green groups and government watchdogs on Tuesday denounced President Donald Trump’s pick to replace him—current CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
“Donald Trump has now somehow picked someone even worse than Rex Tillerson to run the State Department,” said Greenpeace USA Climate Director Naomi Ages in a statement. “In addition to being a climate denier, like his predecessor, Pompeo is the Koch brothers’ shill who will denigrate the United States’ reputation abroad and make us vulnerable to threats at home.”
“Trump’s State Department is a vehicle for big oil and billionaires, regardless of whether Tillerson or Pompeo are at the helm.”—May Boeve, 350.org
May Boeve, executive director of 350.org, agreed that Pompeo’s potential confirmation offers little relief to green groups with concerns over Tillerson’s oil and gas industry ties.
“We’ve gone from Exxon’s CEO to the Koch Brothers’ most loyal lapdog,” said Boeve in a statement. “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. Trump’s State Department is a vehicle for big oil and billionaires, regardless of whether Tillerson or Pompeo are at the helm.”
Corporate Accountability also raised concerns over Pompeo’s close ties to billionaire Republican donors Charles and David Koch, who donated more to his 2010 congressional campaign than they did to any other candidate. Pompeo returned the favor by hiring a Koch Industries attorney as his chief of staff and introducing legislation that was friendly to the multinational corporation.
“If confirmed, Charles and David Koch will now have a direct line to the State Department, including its already obstructionist positions at the U.N. Climate Treaty,” said Kelle Louaillier, the group’s president, on Tuesday. “At the next round of the treaty negotiations, the U.S. delegation may as well be called the Koch delegation, as their agenda—dirty fossil fuels—will again be the centerpiece of U.S. climate policy.”
Wenonah Hauter of Food and Water Watch added that Pompeo “authored legislation that preempted state GMO labeling laws, and would likely continue the U.S. state department’s role in promoting genetically modified crops around the world.”
“We urge the Senate to reject his nomination,” said Hauter.
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