Trump Picks Former Texas Governor Perry as Energy Secretary

• Trump Picks Former Texas Governor Perry as Energy Secretary

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, a onetime presidential candidate considered friendly to the oil industry, will be nominated by President-elect Donald Trump as energy secretary, his transition team said in a statement Wednesday.

As the longest-serving governor in Texas, Perry, 66, was an advocate of “American energy,” and oversaw a state that is a powerhouse in both fossil fuels and renewables. It is the nation’s biggest producer of oil and, thanks to a wave of turbine installations, has the capacity to generate more wind energy than any other state.

“As the Governor of Texas, Rick Perry created a business climate that produced millions of new jobs and lower energy prices in his state, and he will bring that same approach to our entire country as Secretary of Energy,” Trump said in the statement. “My administration is going to make sure we take advantage of our huge natural resource deposits to make America energy independent and create vast new wealth for our nation.”

Perry is at least the third cabinet pick considered friendly to the oil industry, with Trump’s selection of Exxon Mobil Corp. CEO Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who has a history of suing the Environmental Protection Agency, as chief of that agency.