Rick Perry Embraces His Inner Hypocrite Again, Affirms His Efforts to ‘Pick Good’ on Coal Bailouts

WASHINGTON, D.C. - After a tour of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) today, Department of Energy Executive Rick Perry again stated his intention to force electricity customers and taxpayers to spend tens of billions of dollars to bailout uneconomic coal and nuclear plants that cannot compete with cleaner, cheaper competitors like solar and wind.

Media at the event reported that Perry said, "Government's been picking winners and losers since government was created...Government is going to continue doing that. The key is to ‘pick good.’" Perry’s statement echos previous ones he has made amid criticism that his efforts to bail out old, expensive coal and nuclear plants would destroy electricity markets, cause electricity prices to spike, and prompt investors to flee. Since Trump was elected, more than three dozen dirty coal and dangerous nuclear power plants have been retired and been increasingly replaced with clean energy.  

In response, Jonathan Levenshus, Senior Campaign Representative for Federal Strategy at Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, released the following statement:

“Rick Perry and his coal and nuclear bosses don’t care about energy markets, competition, or the law - and his ridiculously hypocritical statement today proves it. For years, prior to his role as Secretary of Energy, Perry cried crocodile tears about government ‘picking winners’, but now he’s intent on forcing taxpayers to spend tens of billions of dollars to bail out dirty, expensive power plants that energy markets have already rejected. It’s clear that Perry doesn’t stand for any particular principle on market regulation, he’s just doing whatever coal and nuclear executives tell him to do.”