mandy G bak

bak 12 23 also capt

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SEE PJT 2025 PENDLEY MCNAMEE PENSION BENCH

no merri

SNOWBALL see cold BS

KILLED CLEAN COOKSTOVES BIOGAS PUBLIC-PVT hILLARY ~ ENERGY POVERTY bs

SEE ENERGY 45

SEE LIFE:POWERED TPPF exxon $100K

~ESG

fertilizer BS st’d morano rap 12 23 who is paying for it? IWF?

bak capt 12 23

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poster boy congress testimony?

2022 replaced by shill

2017 oversight claims to support wind and solar

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AHA DOH both Inhofe staffers, she fever swamp he escalator

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tool of ppl: Project 2025

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TPPF 2022

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15 SEC CLIP

literally no time to be speechless, question about koch $ ignored, just kept talking about unfairly ignored reclaiming my time

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Mandy Leaves AOC Speechless

Mandy Gunasekara

sretoSnopdle571eu111v1 07um6bcNr i04g4a94t59l62hm48,fm8uo5f9 ·

Democrats don't want to seriously discuss climate change; they are only interested in pointing fingers and fear mongering.

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https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1552546005188265

~ solar

North Mississippi families need leadership that will put their energy needs first, NOT the woke Green New Deal. I enjoyed appearing on The World According to Ben Stein to discuss my campaign for Public Service Commissioner, and how we need conservative leadership that will protect Mississippi utility payers.

DEM INJECTING GND ANTICS SOLR LESS RELIABLE COUPLE 100 MILLION $ HIGHER COST BENE CHINA

Check out the full episode HERE: https://the-world-according-to-ben-stein.simplecast.com/...

See less

pipeline sAFETY?

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news

mandy for miss ?!

### Pay-for-Play Continues at Monthly PSC Meeting; Gunasekara Maintains Commissioner Presley Should Resign

During the monthly Public Service Commission (PSC) meeting last week, several concerning actions occurred. In an attempt to play defense in the wake of well documented corruption allegations, Commissioner Brandon […]

### After Gunasekara Exposes Corruption at the PSC, Presley Attempts Cleanup

July 12, 2023 JACKSON, Miss. – During this month’s commissioner meeting in Jackson, there was an interesting discussion between Commissioner Brandon Presley and his attorney, Ross Hammons. Commissioner Presley: “Mr. […]

### Evidence of Corruption at PSC – Additional Materials

### Gunasekara Exposes Evidence of Corruption at the PSC; Calls on Presley to Resign

JACKSON, Miss. – There is strong evidence that Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley has continually violated Mississippi’s anti-corruption statutes for the past eight years. Specifically, by seeking and accepting prohibited […]

### Newsmax – Ex-Trump EPA Official to Newsmax: Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough ‘Huge’

Newsmax Calling the nuclear fusion breakthrough announced by the Energy Department on Tuesday “huge,” former Trump EPA official Mandy Gunasekara told Newsmax that the development is “very promising” as the U.S. looks […]

### Fox Business – US climate reparations would be a ‘misuse of hard earned taxpayer dollars’: Mandy Gunasekara

Check out the video from Fox Business HERE

### VIDEO – Much of the country at risk for rolling blackouts

### RealClearEnergy – Climate Conferences Are Failing By Design and Damaging Our Kids’ Mental Health in the Process

RealClearEnergy Mandy Gunasekara The international climate conference held in Egypt just wrapped. Formally called the Conference of the Parties, this is the 27th time international leaders have gathered to discuss […]

### Fox Business – EPA quietly pushes expensive carbon tax

Fox Business The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a significant increase in the social cost of carbon emissions. Policymakers use the social cost of carbon to calculate economic damages associated […]

### VIDEO – Climate reparations an attempt to bribe smaller countries: Mandy Gunasekara

### SuperTalk – Former EPA official Gunasekara announces run for Northern District Public Service Commissioner

SuperTalk Mississippi Mandy Gunasekara, the former chief of staff at the Environmental Protection Agency, has announced that she will be running for public service commissioner in Mississippi’s northern district. Gunasekara, […]

### Fox News – Biden’s EPA has coordinated with left-wing eco groups tied to liberal dark money network

Fox News Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) leadership has repeatedly consulted left-wing environmental groups tied to a massive liberal dark money network on policy matters, according to internal agency documents obtained by Fox […]

new

Mandy Gunasekara is a Christian, a wife, a mother, and principled conservative. She is a seventh generation Mississippian, who over the last decade has been at the center of the nation’s most consequential energy and environmental decisions. She is a veteran Republican climate and energy strategist, communicator, and environmental attorney who has a well-earned reputation for delivering results.

Most recently, Mandy served President Donald J. Trump as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Mandy was the chief-architect of the Paris Accord withdrawal and set a record for cutting red tape while minimizing unnecessary interference from the federal bureaucracy. One of Mandy’s proudest moments was working to greenlight the Yazoo Backwater Pumps Project, before it was scuttled by President Biden and Mississippi Democrats.

Prior to her latest EPA post, she founded and ran the Energy 45 Fund, a Jackson, Mississippi-based non-profit dedicated to informing the public about the energy, environmental and economic gains made under the Trump Administration. Mandy also served numerous roles in the U.S. Congress, including as Majority Counsel for the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and Senior Counsel to energy-focused representatives.

Mandy is a frequent guest on television and a prolific print media opinion commentator. She regularly appears on Fox News, Fox Business and Newsmax, and writes opinion pieces for the Daily Caller, Y’all Politics, and USA Today. If you haven’t seen her, you may recognize her voice as she is also a constant guest and guest host for Supertalk Mississippi.

Mandy earned a J.D. from the University of Mississippi School of Law and a B.A. from Mississippi College. She lives with her husband and two children in Oxford, Mississippi.

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npr

no lnx pix twt

Highly contested Yazoo Pumps project back on tableFacebook shareTwitter shareEmail share

by Michael McEwen• Published on May 10, 2023• 1 Comment

Backwater flooding covers stretches of farm land on March 17, 2019, near Yazoo City, Miss. Federal officials presented a proposal Thursday, May 4, 2023, to further control flooding in the Mississippi Delta, a move that comes after months of work from government agencies and decades of delays amid disputes over potential environmental impacts.

AP Photo/Holbrook Mohr

NEWS

The Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are moving forward with a plan to reduce flooding along the Yazoo River in Mississippi's South Delta region, but critics of the project say it could cause irreversible damage to both nearby ecosystems and marginalized communities.

Michael McEwen

Yazoo Pumps

The decades old and highly contested project best known as the Yazoo Backwater Project was first approved by Congress in 1941. Three phases of the project have been completed since then - levees, floodgates and a channel - but a 2008 veto issued by the EPA has blocked completion of the final phase, flood pumps, ever since.

Proponents of the project, such as Gov. Tate Reeves, said the project is welcomed news.

“We have been fighting for years to get the project to reduce the amount of flooding in the South Delta. There’s been a lot of push and pull, but I think we have a path forward,” said Reeves in a video posted on Twitter.

Then under the purview of former President George W. Bush, the veto became one of 14 ever issued under Clean Water Act provisions after the EPA determined it would cause serious environmental harm. But after the Trump Administration in 2020 overrode the veto, pleasing Mississippi Republicans and Democrats alike, it was restored by the Biden administration in Nov. 2021.

The announcement late last year that the final phase would soon begin means that, if completed, the Yazoo Backwater Project would be completed 82 years after its initial founding.

“They’ve now signaled that they’re going to propose a plan that abdicates a conservation, climate and environmental justice commitments that the administration has spoken to,” said Jill Mastrototaro, Mississippi Policy Director for Audubon Delta.

“By putting the veto of the Yazoo Pumps back on the table, we know that the project continues to be an ag drainage project masqueraded as flood control that only serves to destroy tens-of-thousands of acres of globally important wetlands while communities continue to flood.”

The Corps aims to add a pumping system to drain the area, a nearly 930,000 acre wetland where rainfall and floodwater collects behind systems already in place to prevent the nearby Mississippi River from flooding. The proposed pumps would move up to 14,000 cubic feet of water from per second at their height, according to a study published by the Corps, making it one of the largest prospective pumping systems ever proposed. It is estimated that more than 67,000 acres of wetlands will be drained should the project be completed.

Mastrototaro says removing that water from surrounding wetlands could have critical ecological effects, such as habitat loss.

“The Yazoo Backwater is one of the few remaining intact bottomland hardwood wetlands in the lower Mississippi River alluvial valley,” she said. “Audubon migratory analysis has determined that nearly 29 million migrating birds and waterfowl depend on the wetlands every year when they fly north and south.”

The backwater serves as a stopover point for birds migrating to and from as far as South America, part of the larger Mississippi Flyway habitat, and the year-round home of as many as 450 species of fish and other wildlife.

“The pumps would change how water moves in the Backwater, so wetlands that were once wetlands will not be wetlands anymore and other habitats will also change. So the quality of those wetlands will not be able to support those birds or other species, whether residential or migratory stopover habitats,” said Mastrototaro.

The area also provides more than $2 billion annually in outdoor recreation revenue to the state economy.

A notable change in the most recent proposal is a disagreement between the Corps and the EPA over the exact definition of wetlands in the project, meaning they also disagree over the total extent of land that may be impacted by the drainage project.

The newly-proposed pumping system is also 78% larger than the previously proposed project, and the plan to relocate the drained water could have drastic impacts primarily on communities of color further downstream, says Mastrototaro.

“All of that water has to go somewhere. It will be pumped into an already at flood-stage Yazoo River, that will then flow to Vicksburg and impact north Vicksburg neighborhoods that are predominantly black that already suffer from frequent flooding.”

Already in the fifth of six total months, the proposal has now entered the public comment phase and will be formally presented in June.

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https://www.epa.gov › newsreleases › epa-letter-confirms-yazoo-pumps-project-subject-2008-veto

EPA Letter Confirms Yazoo Pumps Project Subject to 2008 Veto

ATLANTA (Nov. 16, 2021) - Today, EPA transmitted a letter to the Army for Civil Works regarding the Yazoo Pumps Project. In the letter, EPA explains that the 2020 Proposed Plan for the Yazoo Pumps Project is prohibited by EPA's 2008 Clean Water Act Section 404 (c) Final Determination.

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new

jACKSON — Public voting records and property tax documents show that a Republican candidate for the Northern District seat on the Public Service Commission may not meet the statutory residency requirements to run for the office.

Mandy Gunasekara has filed paperwork to seek one of three utility regulator posts in the state after serving in numerous high profile capacities in Washington, including a stint as chief of staff of the Environmental Protection Agency in President Donald Trump’s administration.

Candidates running for the PSC must live in the district they are seeking to represent and have additionally lived in the state at least five years before the date of the election, according to a qualifying guide published by the Secretary of State.

This guide cities Mississippi law and the state constitution, which requires that a candidate for the Public Service Commission be "a citizen of the state five years next preceding the day of his election."

The Daily Journal, through a public records request, obtained Gunasekara’s voting records from the District of Columbia, which show she last voted there on Nov. 6, 2018. Mississippi's general election this year will occur on Nov. 7, 2023.

After she cast a ballot in D.C. in November 2018, Gunasekara registered to vote in her hometown of Decatur in January 2019, according to her voter record, which was obtained from the Mississippi Secretary of State's office through a public records request. That record shows that she has voted in state elections since then. The record also confirms that she currently lives in Oxford, where she registered to vote in July 2021.

But property records with the District of Columbia’s office of tax and revenue also show that Gunasekara and her husband received a homestead deduction on property taxes there in 2021, just two years ago.

To receive a homestead dedication, a property must be occupied by the owner and must be the principal residence of the owner, according to the office’s website.

In a statement to the Daily Journal, Gunasekara said that she consulted with Mississippi election law experts prior to filing paperwork for the race to ensure she meets the residency requirements.

“We began our transition back to Mississippi as our permanent home well before the relevant time period,” Gunasekara said.

She faces two opponents in the Republican primary: city of Tupelo official Tanner Newman and state Rep. Chris Brown of Nettleton.

State law allows for someone to file a residency challenge petition with the executive committee of political party conducting the primary, in this case the Mississippi Republican Party.

Brown told the Daily Journal it was "shocking and interesting" to learn about Gunasekara's voting and property tax records, and he is looking forward to seeing if the state GOP executive committee will take any action.

Newman said in a statement that he will not file a residency challenge.

“[Neither] I nor my campaign are filing a challenge. We are focused on sharing our message and earning the votes of the people of North Mississippi," Newman said. "The people of North Mississippi deserve a commissioner who understands their needs and how to connect them quickly with the resources available. As a native of North Mississippi, that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

Republican Southern District Public Service Commissioner Dane Maxwell filed a residency challenge with the state GOP in 2019, arguing that one of his primary opponents, Perry Parker, did not meet the statutory residency requirements.

The GOP ultimately voted to remove Parker from the Republican ballot and sided with Maxwell. Maxwell cited voting history and homestead exemption records in his challenge to Parker's eligibility, the same records that could be at issue if any challenge is brought over Gunasekara's eligibility.

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new

Mandy Gunasekara announces run for Public Service Commissioner in northern district

By TAYLOR VANCE Daily Journal Nov 15, 2022

Mandy Gunasekara picture

This undated photo shows Mandy Gunasekara speaking. Gunasekara announced this week that she will qualify next year to try and become the new Northern District Public Service Commissioner.

Courtesy

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Twitter

JACKSON — Mandy Gunasekara, a former chief of staff for the Environmental Protection Agency, announced this week that she intends to qualify next year to become the next utility regulator in north Mississippi.

Gunasekara, 37, told the Daily Journal on Tuesday that she wants to become the next Northern District Public Service Commissioner because she has experience in implementing energy policy and wants to see energy rates lowered for Mississippians.

“I’ve always worked at the intersection of energy and the environment with an eye toward the future,” Gunasekara said. “I’m committed to running for the Public Service Commission.”

Gunasekara, a Republican, is a native of Decatur, and she’s lived in Oxford for several years.

After graduating from Mississippi College and the University of Mississippi School of Law, she worked in Washington for the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate and the EPA.

If elected, Gunasekara said she would work to eliminate net metering, a program that allows residents to generate their own solar energy and sell it back to the power grid during times of peak consumption, which is supposed to defray costs.

The former EPA official said a majority of ratepayers in the state end up subsidizing the small percentage of people who actually use solar energy.

The Public Service Commission is a three-member board that regulates telecommunications, electric, gas, water and sewer utilities. The three commission members are elected from different regions throughout the state.

The agency recently has adopted broadband internet expansion as a part of its core mission and has worked to connect rural parts of the state to wired broadband.

The current commissioner in north Mississippi, Brandon Presley, has occupied the office for nearly 15 years. Presley, a resident of Nettleton, is one of only two Democratic officials who occupy a regional public office in the state.

Presley for months has been rumored to be eyeing a run for governor to challenge incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves.

The Lee County native declined to say if he was running for governor, but he told the Daily Journal he was focused on working to connect as many Mississippians to broadband as possible.

“You can’t qualify until January,” Presley said. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk about campaigns during the election year.”

Qualifying for state offices begins Jan. 3.

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Experienced Founder with a demonstrated history of working in the legislative office industry. Skilled in Nonprofit Organizations, Energy Policy, Legislative Relations, Public Speaking, and Legal Writing. Strong business development professional graduated from University of Mississippi School of Law.Experienced Founder with a demonstrated history of working in the legislative office industry. Skilled in Nonprofit Organizations, Energy Policy, Legislative Relations, Public Speaking, and Legal Writing. Strong business development professional graduated from University of Mississippi School of Law.

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Mandy Gunasekara reposted this • 4mo4mo

Again, it’s not climate change but rather climate change policies that pose a crisis-level threat to humanity. Shutting down aspects of the ag industry as global hunger is projected to grow will lead famine, death, and unrest. Here’s additional information from an earlier Independent Women's Forum post in Townhall Media:

https://lnkd.in/gzTu6EgG…show more

Irish farmers pressured to cull up to 200,000 cows to meet climate goals

ft.com • 6 min read

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Mandy Gunasekara reposted this • 4mo4mo

CENTER FOR ENVTL ACCOUNTABILITY - EPA POWER PLANT COMMENTS

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Civil Rights AttorneyCivil Rights Attorney

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Dustin CarmackDustin Carmack

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Policy Director & Senior Advisor at Ron DeSantis for PresidentPolicy Director & Senior Advisor at Ron DeSantis for President

Bernard L. McNamee profile picture

Bernard L. McNameeBernard L. McNamee

· 3rdThird degree connection

Partner, McGuireWoods LLP/Senior Advisor McGuireWoods Consulting/Street Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at Appalachian School of LawPartner, McGuireWoods LLP/Senior Advisor McGuireWoods Consulting/Street Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at Appalachian School of Law

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Mandy Gunasekara profile picture

Mandy GunasekaraMandy Gunasekara

· 3rdThird degree connection

Principal at Section VII Strategies, LLCPrincipal at Section VII Strategies, LLC

ppl also view section vii?

charlotte-whelan-a9797bb9

lient	Total	Subsidiary (Lobbied For)	Industry
JinkoSolar	$20,000	JinkoSolar US	Renewable Energy

History

2006 - 2018

In December 2006, JinkoSolar was officially established in December 2006 in Shangrao, Jiangxi, China. In 2007, JinkoSolar began producing silicon ingots. In 2008, JinkoSolar began producing silicon wafers. In 2009, JinkoSolar began producing solar cells and operating a module assembly line.

In May 2010, JinkoSolar was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming the company with the shortest time from establishment to public listing in the solar industry. In 2015, JinkoSolar established manufacturing operations in Malaysia.^[2]

2019 - present

In 2019, officially opened the company's first U.S. factory. In 2020, the company became the first to achieve cumulative module shipments exceeding 70 GW.^[3][4]

Jinko Solar provided the equipment for, and has a 20% ownership stake in, the 2 GW Al Dhafra Solar project in the United Arab Emirates, which was announced in 2020 and opened in 2023 and was one of the world's largest solar projects.^[5][6]

In 2021, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection began blocking the import of JinkoSolar products into the United States due to concerns about the use of forced Uyghur labor.^[7]

In 2022, the company established a 7 GW ingot/wafer factory in Vietnam. Also in 2022, JinkoSolar became the first PV company in the world with cumulative module shipments exceeding 100 GW.^[8][9]

In May 2023, agents from the United States Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation raided JinkoSolar's offices in Jacksonville, Florida.^[10]

In May 2023, JinkoSolar announced plans to build the world's first “super integrated” solar factory, including silicon ingots, wafers, cells, and modules, with an annual integrated output of 56 GW.^[11]

Recognition

JinkoSolar is a member of the Silicon Module Super League. The four other original members of the group are Canadian Solar, Hanwha Q CELLS, JA Solar, and Trina Solar.^[12]

---

A solar panel manufacturing facility run by major provider JinkoSolar is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to local news outlets.

Agents from Homeland Security, the FBI, and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol entered the Jacksonville, Fla. Facility after executing a search warrant. Employees were sent home, and agents from the three agencies were seen on-scene at the facility.

“That’s part of an ongoing federal investigation,” said Homeland Security spokesman Mike Meares.

The 400 MW, 283,652 square-foot production facility reached operations in 2018, employing 270 people. The site expected to nearly double its capacity following a recently announced $52 million private investment and a $2.3 million economic development grant from the city of Jacksonville.

JinkoSolar offered this statement to pv magazine:

“JinkoSolar is committed to operating in accordance with the highest ethical standards and adhering to the laws and regulations of the countries where it operates, including the United States. Jinko, through external counsel, is engaging constructively with relevant agencies to understand the nature of the inquiry, and the company’s business operations are running normally, including in Jacksonville.”

As a solar component supplier based in China, JinkoSolar and its competitors have faced pressure from U.S. enforcement of trade law. Goods shipped from the Xinjiang province in China are subject to enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which requires documentation to show the components have no connection to forced labor. Other major suppliers, including Longi, Trina Solar, and Canadian solar have had components detained under UFLPA.

Suppliers are also dealing with navigating the antidumping and countervailing (AD/CVD) investigation, which was launched as solar suppliers from China were alleged of dodging tariffs by circumventing them through Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia. JinkoSolar’s operations in Malaysia were found to not be in violation of AD/CVD laws.

Goods found in violation of antidumping laws can be retroactively assessed with 50% to 250% tariffs. This looming threat of tariffs has been damaging to the U.S. solar component supply chain over the last year, slowing project installations.

As a result, President Joe Biden placed a two-year pause on tariffs related to the AD/CVD case, and now the move is facing pressure. The U.S. Senate voted to lift the moratorium, reinstating tariffs, though President Biden has expressed he will veto the resolution. If the Senate can achieve a two-thirds majority, it can override Biden’s veto.

A recent report by Solarbe ranked JinkoSolar as the largest solar panel supplier in the world. The company delivered 13 GW of panels in Q1 2023, 50% of which were the N-type Tiger Neo panel. The quarter represented a growth of 72.7% over the previous year’s Q1.

---

hubby

Adjunct ProfessorAdjunct Professor

University of Mississippi School of Law · Part-timeUniversity of Mississippi School of Law · Part-time

Jan 2023 - Present · 1 yrJan 2023 - Present · 1 yr

Oxford, Mississippi, United StatesOxford, Mississippi, United States

Bitcoin, Blockchain, and the Law.

Skills: TeachingSkills: Teaching

JinkoSolar U.S. logo

Counsel & DirectorCounsel & Director

JinkoSolar U.S. · Full-timeJinkoSolar U.S. · Full-time

May 2023 - Present · 8 mosMay 2023 - Present · 8 mos

Washington DC-Baltimore Area · HybridWashington DC-Baltimore Area · Hybrid

Section VII Strategies, LLC logo

FounderFounder

Section VII Strategies, LLC · Part-timeSection VII Strategies, LLC · Part-time

Jan 2021 - Present · 3 yrsJan 2021 - Present · 3 yrs

Oxford, Mississippi, United StatesOxford, Mississippi, United States

Satoshi Action Fund logo

Co-FounderCo-Founder

Satoshi Action Fund · Part-timeSatoshi Action Fund · Part-time

May 2022 - Present · 1 yr 8 mosMay 2022 - Present · 1 yr 8 mos

Oxford, Mississippi, United StatesOxford, Mississippi, United States

US-Asia Institute logo

Senior Advisor

US-Asia Institute · Part-timeUS-Asia Institute · Part-time

Mar 2021 - Present · 2 yrs 10 mosMar 2021 - Present · 2 yrs 10 mos

Washington, United StatesWashington, United States

The Giant Houseparty logo

Executive ProducerExecutive Producer

The Fair · Part-timeThe Fair · Part-time

Mar 2021 - Present · 2 yrs 10 mosMar 2021 - Present · 2 yrs 10 mos

Neshoba County, Mississippi, United StatesNeshoba County, Mississippi, United States

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) logo

Senior Counsel, International AffairsSenior Counsel, International Affairs

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) · Full-timeU.S. Department of Energy (DOE) · Full-time

Oct 2020 - Jan 2021 · 4 mosOct 2020 - Jan 2021 · 4 mos

Washington DC-Baltimore AreaWashington DC-Baltimore Area

U.S. Department of Homeland Security logo

Executive Director, PolicyExecutive Director, Policy

U.S. Department of Homeland Security · Full-timeU.S. Department of Homeland Security · Full-time

2020 - 2021 · 1 yr2020 - 2021 · 1 yr

Washington, District of Columbia, United StatesWashington, District of Columbia, United States

Skills: Project ManagementSkills: Project Management

Section VII Strategies, LLC logo

Founder & PrincipalFounder & Principal

Section VII Strategies, LLC · Full-timeSection VII Strategies, LLC · Full-time

Aug 2017 - May 2020 · 2 yrs 10 mosAug 2017 - May 2020 · 2 yrs 10 mos

Capitol Hill Consulting Group logo

Of CounselOf Counsel

Capitol Hill Consulting GroupCapitol Hill Consulting Group

Nov 2017 - Apr 2020 · 2 yrs 6 mosNov 2017 - Apr 2020 · 2 yrs 6 mos

Washington, District Of ColumbiaWashington, District Of Columbia

Surya Gunasekara - Capitol Hill Consulting GroupSurya Gunasekara - Capitol Hill Consulting Group

Surya Gunasekara serves as Counsel to Capitol Hill Consulting Group, where he handles tax policy issues. Prior to joining CHCG, Mr. Gunasekara served as Chief of Staff and Tax Counsel for Congressman Jim Renacci (R-OH), who sits on the House Ways and...Surya Gunasekara serves as Counsel to Capitol Hill Consulting Group, where he handles tax policy issues. Prior to joining CHCG, Mr. Gunasekara served as Chief of Staff and Tax Counsel for Congressman Jim Renacci (R-OH), who sits on the House Ways and...

US-Asia Institute logo

Member - Congressional CircleMember - Congressional Circle

US-Asia InstituteUS-Asia Institute

Aug 2017 - Apr 2020 · 2 yrs 9 mosAug 2017 - Apr 2020 · 2 yrs 9 mos

Washington D.C. Metro AreaWashington D.C. Metro Area

The US-Asia Institute Congressional Circle is an alumni association of current and former Congressional advisors who have participated in USAI programs including off-the-record briefings and delegations to the region over the past 30 years.The US-Asia Institute Congressional Circle is an alumni association of current and former Congressional advisors who have participated in USAI programs including off-the-record briefings and delegations to the region over the past 30 years.

Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure logo

Board MemberBoard Member

Alliance for Innovation and InfrastructureAlliance for Innovation and Infrastructure

Dec 2014 - Apr 2020 · 5 yrs 5 mosDec 2014 - Apr 2020 · 5 yrs 5 mos

Tysons Corner, VATysons Corner, VA

The Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure (AII) is an independent, national, educational organization dedicated to identifying our nation’s infrastructure needs, creating awareness of those needs, and developing public-private partnerships to address those issues.

Our goal is to create higher standards by promoting innovative technologies and safer outcomes for national infrastructure projects.

Learn more at: http://www.aii.orgThe Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure (AII) is an independent, national, educational organization dedicated to identifying our nation’s infrastructure needs, creating awareness of those needs, and developing public-private partnerships to address those issues. Our goal is to create higher standards by promoting innovative technologies and safer outcomes for national infrastructure projects. Learn more at: http://www.aii.org

U.S. House of Representatives logo

Chief of Staff & General CounselChief of Staff & General Counsel

U.S. House of RepresentativesU.S. House of Representatives

Apr 2015 - Aug 2017 · 2 yrs 5 mosApr 2015 - Aug 2017 · 2 yrs 5 mos

Washington, District Of ColumbiaWashington, District Of Columbia

Served as the chief policy advisor and managed over twenty staff in the DC and District offices. Responsible for shaping the overall strategic vision of the Congressman’s Ways and Means Committee portfolio, specifically in tax, trade, national security and energy. Developed and executed the member’s legislative and communication initiatives. Oversaw a robust political fundraising operation and the member’s reelection campaign staff.Served as the chief policy advisor and managed over twenty staff in the DC and District offices. Responsible for shaping the overall strategic vision of the Congressman’s Ways and Means Committee portfolio, specifically in tax, trade, national security and energy. Developed and executed the member’s legislative and communication initiatives. Oversaw a robust political fundraising operation and the member’s reelection campaign staff.

California Taxpayers Association logo

Board MemberBoard Member

California Taxpayers AssociationCalifornia Taxpayers Association

Feb 2014 - Apr 2015 · 1 yr 3 mosFeb 2014 - Apr 2015 · 1 yr 3 mos

Sacramento, California AreaSacramento, California Area

Founded in 1926, the California Taxpayers Association is the state's largest and oldest organization representing taxpayers. Established as a nonpartisan, non-profit research and advocacy association, CalTax has a dual mission to guard against unnecessary taxation and to promote government efficiency.Founded in 1926, the California Taxpayers Association is the state's largest and oldest organization representing taxpayers. Established as a nonpartisan, non-profit research and advocacy association, CalTax has a dual mission to guard against unnecessary taxation and to promote government efficiency.

Airlines for America logo

Managing Director, TaxesManaging Director, Taxes

Airlines for AmericaAirlines for America

Sep 2013 - Apr 2015 · 1 yr 8 mosSep 2013 - Apr 2015 · 1 yr 8 mos

Washington, DCWashington, DC

Manages the airline executive tax committee responsible for addressing all domestic and international aviation tax issues. Cultivate and maintain relationships with think tanks, regional trade associations, tax policy foundations, and allied advocacy groups. Establishes multi-industry coalitions and working groups to lobby policy makers at the state and federal level.Manages the airline executive tax committee responsible for addressing all domestic and international aviation tax issues. Cultivate and maintain relationships with think tanks, regional trade associations, tax policy foundations, and allied advocacy groups. Establishes multi-industry coalitions and working groups to lobby policy makers at the state and federal level.

API - American Petroleum Institute logo

Counsel - Tax & TradeCounsel - Tax & Trade

APIAPI

Dec 2011 - Sep 2013 · 1 yr 10 mosDec 2011 - Sep 2013 · 1 yr 10 mos

Washington D.C. Metro AreaWashington D.C. Metro Area

Surya served as Counsel - Tax & Trade in the Tax and Accounting Policy Department of the American Petroleum Institute (API). In this role, Surya was responsible for drafting comments on proposed regulations, monitoring legislation, coordinating industry fly-ins and forums, as well as all Congressional, Executive Branch, and state advocacy on API’s trade and motor fuel tax issues.Surya served as Counsel - Tax & Trade in the Tax and Accounting Policy Department of the American Petroleum Institute (API). In this role, Surya was responsible for drafting comments on proposed regulations, monitoring legislation, coordinating industry fly-ins and forums, as well as all Congressional, Executive Branch, and state advocacy on API’s trade and motor fuel tax issues.

Defense Logistics Agency logo

Assistant Counsel (Attorney-Advisor)Assistant Counsel (Attorney-Advisor)

Defense Logistics AgencyDefense Logistics Agency

Jan 2011 - Dec 2011 · 1 yrJan 2011 - Dec 2011 · 1 yr

Fort Belvoir, VirginiaFort Belvoir, Virginia

Surya advised petroleum-procuring contracting officers and program directors in matters pertaining to acquisitions, contract administration, and international and domestic fuel taxes.Surya advised petroleum-procuring contracting officers and program directors in matters pertaining to acquisitions, contract administration, and international and domestic fuel taxes.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) logo

Law ClerkLaw Clerk

US Department of Health and Human ServicesUS Department of Health and Human Services

2010 - 2011 · 1 yr2010 - 2011 · 1 yr

United States Department of Defense logo

Law ClerkLaw Clerk

United States Department of DefenseUnited States Department of Defense

Jun 2008 - Oct 2010 · 2 yrs 5 mosJun 2008 - Oct 2010 · 2 yrs 5 mos

Aurora, CO

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retweet

Mandy Gunasekara on LinkedIn: CENTER FOR ENVTL ACCOUNTABILITY - EPA POWER PLANT COMMENTS

twt

Justin Schwab_ • 3rd+ • 3rd+Founder at CGCN Law * Former EPA Deputy General Counsel * Environmental, energy, administrative lawFounder at CGCN Law * Former EPA Deputy General Counsel * Environmental, energy, administrative law4mo • 4mo •](https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-schwab?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAAADQi5UBg_Ol0h2JXMaacFTv7ZuPJP7-YHk)

Many thanks to my co-author [Marc M.](https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-m-852a644/) for his help drafting the Center for Environmental Accountability's comments on EPA's power plant proposal. EPA claims unproven technologies are "adequately demonstrated"—we break down why that’s just not so.

Elaborating on my WSJ op-ed from May, the comments explain how EPA's proposed 15-year plan to remake the utility sector would exceed its authority under the Clean Air Act, trammel state prerogatives to set the generation mix within their borders, and undermine the accountability structure around electricity regulation just as the Biden Administration seeks to make the cost and reliability of electricity the single point of failure for energy policy.

The Clean Power Plan, and its demise in West Virginia v. EPA, generated major new doctrines in administrative law. What will round two bring?

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Apollo.io

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Section VII Strategies is a boutique energy, environmental, and bitcoin policy consulting firm dedicated to providing curated solutions to meet the business ...

[### Section VII Strategies, LLC Overview

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Section VII Strategies, LLC ; Company Type: Limited Liability Company ; Jurisdiction: District of Columbia (US) ; Registered Address. 418 S. Capitol St. SE, ...

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boston herald op ed

https://www.bostonherald.com/2022/09/02/gunasekara-wall-street-buying-virtue-with-your-money/

By MANDY GUNASEKARA |

September 2, 2022

There is a new class of profiteers in the investment world, and you, the typical American, are paying the price for their virtue-filled scheme. Wall Street elites have been pushing the adoption of corporate metrics, referred to as Environmental, Social and Governance, to assess how much good or bad a company is bringing to society. Interestingly, only the far-left socialist causes qualify as “good.”

While advocates of ESG promise a better, healthi ...

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am acctability BS hit oppo res

Social Justice Warriors Pushing ESG On Wall Street Have Deep Ties To Political Left

A standing rule of any organization is that personnel is policy. A new investigative report released by the American Accountability Foundation shines a light on how Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing is not a strategy intended to increase returns, but rather is a tool for global elites who wield their enormous financial power—with other people’s money—to achieve their liberal political ends.

Blackrock, Vanguard and State Street collectively represent 80% of all passive investors, which includes 401(k) investments, IRA and brokerage accounts, and pension and institutional funds. These investment houses use your money to achieve controversial environmental and social goals like “anti-racism” training, fossil energy divestment, and instituting race- or gender-based hiring quotas. While these policies have failed to gain traction in Congress and have been struck down in the courts, they are becoming increasingly popular in the Davos jet-set crowd.

As the report suggests, the driving force behind this trend may be the new revolving door between liberal politics and Wall Street. Leaders of these investment houses, including Larry Fink who is the CEO of BlackRock, have denied that ESG is about politics or any particular social or ideological agenda and emphatically stated that ESG “is not woke.” But the mid- to lower-level staff at these investment houses responsible for the day-to-day implementation of ESG investing suggest otherwise. Many of them have earlier careers as partisan staff for liberal politicians and leftist organizations. Given the alignment between ESG goals and the woke agenda heralded by many Democrats, it’s hard to see past the obvious coordination.

[Read the full story at IWF]

mandy g sept

standing rule of any organization is that personnel is policy. A new investigative report released by the American Accountability Foundation shines a light on how Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing is not a strategy intended to increase returns, but rather is a tool for global elites who wield their enormous financial power—with other people’s money—to achieve their liberal political ends.

Blackrock, Vanguard and State Street collectively represent 80% of all passive investors, which includes 401(k) investments, IRA and brokerage accounts, and pension and institutional funds. These investment houses use your money to achieve controversial environmental and social goals like “anti-racism” training, fossil energy divestment, and instituting race- or gender-based hiring quotas. While these policies have failed to gain traction in Congress and have been struck down in the courts, they are becoming increasingly popular in the Davos jet-set crowd.

The rank and file ESG “stewardship teams” come from the Offices of Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and former President Obama as well as the left-wing non-profits like the Center for American Progress. Others are serving on boards for progressive organizations, including Resource Generation, which “offers programming that encourages members to see capitalism not as a market-based equalizer promising upward mobility, but as a damaging system predicated on, ‘stolen land, stolen labor and stolen lives.’”

These are just a few examples of the many that the AAF report extensively covers. The liberal aligned goals and the outcomes lay out a clear indication that ESG is a mechanism for advancing a woke agenda that benefits the political left while producing lower returns for investors. Statements suggesting otherwise should be taken with a grain of salt.

The ESG agenda, just like the woke agenda it perpetuates is causing serious harm like lost value for retirees and broader economic degradation. While ESG acolytes will get paid their high dollar fees, either way, the rest of us will be left with the consequences.

This is why many states like Florida, New Hampshire, Texas and West Virginia are pushing back. Congress should take note as well.

Farmers around the globe are feeling unfairly targeted and unfortunately, they are right. From the Netherlands to Ireland to Canada, nations are increasingly targeting their respective agriculture sectors under the banner of climate change. Going after farmers could not come at a worse time as the war in Ukraine has triggered an international food shortage, which one United Nations official recently stated is “threatening global hunger on an unprecedented scale.”

For example, the Netherlands, while a relatively small country, is the second-largest agricultural exporter in the world, the largest exporter of meat among all EU nations, and the third largest dairy exporter in the world. The Dutch climate proposal up for consideration would close up to 30% of their farms and force farmers to kill off livestock in order to comply with European Union (EU) environmental rules. When the newly created Dutch Minister for Nature and Nitrogen Policy announced the plan, local farmers were given three options—(1) Comply; (2) Relocate; or (3) Shutdown. There was no sleight of hand, the government made it clear “there is not a future for all [Dutch] farmers within [this] approach.”

Dutch farmers are pushing back and have expressed anger at being unfairly targeted compared to other industries in their country. They are also frustrated that the proposal did not include more moderate alternatives to reduce nitrogen without putting farms out of business.

Similar scenarios are playing out elsewhere. After the Irish government made climate standards more stringent, one local farmer explained it “made whole classes of farms unviable.” Canadian farmers are worried Prime Minister Trudeau’s nitrogen reduction proposal will significantly cut yields to canola, corn, and spring wheat that are extremely important to global food supplies.

This is no coincidence and will likely expand. Extreme environmentalists have long agitated to transform the agriculture sector, especially livestock farmers, and the global diet in the process. At the United Nations, this concept is referred to as the Food System Transformation, which will develop “essential steps needed to transition to healthier, more sustainable food systems.” This includes the establishment of an International Panel for Food System Science (IPFSS)—akin to a global food police—which would “provide support in justifying difficult or controversial decisions,” like shutting down livelihoods and exacerbating a food crisis.A future IPFSS would also be charged with reducing “misinformation” online as the quickest way to force acceptance of bad ideas is to quash dissent.& ...A key component of a global food transition is to reduce meat consumption, either by convincing people to become vegan or by purposefully limiting supply to consumers. The fact that livelihoods may be ruined—and some may starve in the process—is just a necessary part of this global transition to stop climate change, so the extremists say.

There are also efforts to create protein or meat alternatives including a push to make eating crickets mainstream. Ontario, Canada, will soon be home to the world’s largest insect farm owned by a company that cites the bugs as “an excellent-value protein at a fraction of the environmental impact.”

The Biden administration is also pushing these disastrous policies. Like a wolf in sheep's clothing, the innocuous-sounding “climate smart ag” hides a much more extreme agenda. Biden administration official Samantha Powers recently commented on ongoing fertilizer shortages, stating coldly that it may “hasten transitions that would have been in the interest of farmers to make eventually anyway” such as “natural solutions like manure and compost.”

[Recommended

Biden DOJ’s Motion to Regain Access to Trump Docs Hits Iceberg in the First Sentence

Matt Vespa]

Sri Lanka embraced this “natural” approach in April 2021, when the government banned the use of chemical fertilizers to “protect the soil and biodiversity.” As a result, crop production fell by an average of 30 to 50 percent, and today the country is in shambles. The Sri Lankan people are starving, the economy is collapsing, and the President and Prime Minister have fled the country after citizens breached the official residences.

Like much of the green agenda, green agriculture as pushed by extreme environmentalists at the UN, the EU, and in the Biden administration is very dangerous. It purports to “solve” environmental problems by shutting entire industries down, rejecting the benefits of modern farming, and dismissing the resulting consequences that largely impact marginalized populations.

There is a better way to improve the environmental impact of agriculture. It will be solved by technology and by working alongside farmers, not shutting them down.

Mandy Gunasekara is a senior policy analyst at the Independent Women’s Forum and former Chief of Staff at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

---

lnx

example, the Netherlands, while a relatively small country, is the https://dutchreview.com/culture/innovation/second-largest-agriculture-exporter/"...meat among all EU nations, and the third largest dairy exporter in the world. The Dutch climate proposal up for consideration would close up to 30% of their farms and force farmers to https://apnews.com/article/netherlands-the-hague-climate-and-environment-fcc706577d9e2e5d221141286f573158" kill off livestock in order to comply with European Union (EU) environmental rules. When the newly created Dutch Minister for Nature and Nitrogen Policy announced the plan, local farmers were given [—(1) Comply; (2) Relocate; or (3) Shutdown. There was no sleight of hand, the government made it](https://www.dairyglobal.net/world-of-dairy/country-focus/the-netherlands-nitrogen-should-be-slashed-70-in-key-areas/

three%20options)clear “there is not a future for all [Dutch] farmers within [this] approach.” pushing back and have expressed anger at being unfairly targeted compared to other industries in their country. They are also frustrated that the proposal did not include more moderate alternatives to reduce nitrogen without putting farms out of business. Similar scenarios are playing out elsewhere. After the Irish government made climate standards more stringent, one local farmer explained it “made whole classes of farms unviable.” Canadian farmers are worried Prime Minister Trudeau’s nitrogen reduction proposal will significantly cut yields to canola, corn, and spring wheat that are extremely important to global food supplies.

https://www.eenews.net/articles/hatch-act-probe-closed-for-top-epa-official/

lnx

government watchdog agency has quietly dismissed a complaint brought last year alleging that EPA’s press office violated the Hatch Act in its handling of a top air official’s politically charged resignation letter.

The complaint had been brought by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) last February on the grounds that the letter from Mandy Gunasekara advocated for President Trump’s reelection.

Press aides in EPA’s Office of Public Affairs who then gave the letter to reporters violated the act’s prohibition on using official government time and resources for political activity, PEER said (E&E News PM, Feb. 11, 2019).

but after investigating, the Office of Special Counsel found that press office employees had followed standard practice in giving Gunasekara’s letter to reporters who requested it once she granted permission, according to its response to PEER’s complaint last September.

As a result, "OSC is closing this matter without further action," Ana Galindo-Marrone, chief of the office’s Hatch Act unit, said in the response.

"EPA is pleased with this expected outcome of the investigation," agency spokeswoman Corry Schiermeyer said in an email yesterday when asked for comment.

But PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse questioned the logic underlying the decision.

"The OSC seems to be saying that because EPA had Ms. Gunasekara’s permission to write and distribute the letter, it was OK, despite the content," Whitehouse said in a separate message. "That’s nonsensical and allows for a further chipping away" of the act’s requirements, he said.

Because Gunasekara, who was principal deputy assistant administrator in the Office of Air and Radiation, had left EPA by the time the complaint was filed, the Hatch Act’s application to her was moot, PEER had acknowledged.

The group’s complaint "was frivolous from the start," Gunasekara said yesterday.

Gunasekara quit her EPA job to run Energy 45, an advocacy group she created to promote Trump’s energy policies. She is now poised to rejoin the agency as chief of staff after Ryan Jackson stepped down last week, sources have told E&E News (Greenwire, Feb. 14). Gunasekara has declined to comment for the record on the possibility.

The Office of Special Counsel’s decision has not previously been reported. Following standard practice, the agency did not make it public and neither PEER nor the EPA press office drew attention to it at the time. Whitehouse provided a copy of the decision to E&E News last week after a reporter inquired about the complaint’s status in light of Gunasekara’s expected return to the agency.

The Hatch Act generally bars federal workers from engaging in on-the-job partisan political activities; the Office of Special Counsel is an independent agency charged with enforcing it.

"Mr. President, you are truly making America great again," Gunasekara said in last February’s letter, written on EPA letterhead and addressed to Trump (Greenwire, Feb. 7, 2019). "Ensuring eight years of your leadership is of utmost importance."

The letter had first been reported by the online news site Axios, which did not name its source.

E&E

The anniversary of the snowball both sides love to troll

By Timothy Cama | 03/13/2020

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) displays and tosses a snowball on the Senate floor in 2015.

"You know what this is?" Sen. Jim Inhofe rhetorically asked Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, who was presiding over the Senate one afternoon five years ago.

"It’s a snowball. It’s just from outside here. So it’s very, very cold out, very unseasonable," Inhofe said. "So, Mr. President, catch this."

With that, the Oklahoma Republican lobbed the snowball — to a Senate page, not to Cassidy — and into history.

The Snowball Speech, as it has come to be known, has since lived in infamy, which is notable for the author of "The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future."

The five-year anniversary of the speech was last month, but it still serves Inhofe’s opponents as a mocking illustration of the Republican Party’s climate change policy. For his supporters, it’s an epic troll against Democrats.

Inhofe and his staff frequently bring up that the snowball and the speech were not meant to disprove climate science by showing that snow still falls.

Instead, they were meant to mock Democrats’ focus on climate, which then-President Obama had recently told Vox is deadlier than terrorism.

It came at an important moment for climate policy.EPA was working to make final the Clean Power Plan, Obama’s signature climate policy, meant to cut greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

He was also preparing for the United Nations’ climate summit in Paris later that year, which resulted in the Paris Agreement.

And federal officials had recently concluded that 2014 was most likely the hottest year on record — a conclusion Inhofe mocked with the snowball.

Feb. 26, 2015, was a big day for memes and for the internet. "The dress," a photo of a striped dress that some saw as black and blue and some saw as white and gold, exploded on social media that day, as did a video of two loose llamas being chased in Arizona.

Inhofe made the trifecta. His speech and snowball quickly went viral, with mentions in news outlets around the world.

E&E News spoke with some of the figures involved in the speech and its aftermath. Inhofe’s staff declined multiple requests to make him available.

Mandy Gunasekarahad just started working for Inhofe as majority counsel for the Environment and Public Works Committee.

"This was actually my first floor speech for the senator that I had written and that I was the designated staffer to escort him to the floor. I had started less than a month before," she recalled recently.

In videos from that 2015 day, Gunasekara is instantly recognizable as the staffer sitting just behind him during the speech, switching out his posters, including a 1974 Time magazine story predicting a coming ice age and a photo of his family building an igloo.

There was still snow on the ground outside the Capitol — pretty standard for February.

"I don’t know who made the snowball. I just know when I went to go brief him, I had the speech, got the poster and was handed the snowball," said Gunasekara, who is now EPA’s incoming chief of staff.

"It was his idea to bring in the snowball, because he was trying to point to the media’s dishonesty in covering weather events versus actual climate," she said.

"Whenever it’s hot in the summer, everyone’s like ‘Oh, my gosh, climate change!’ But if it’s something that doesn’t play into the global warming element, like a snowstorm in February, people don’t say, ‘Oh, my gosh, it’s climate change.’"

When he got to the Senate floor, Inhofe surveyed the pages there at the time to see who could catch the snowball, Gunasekara said. The pages were high school juniors or seniors, nominated by their home-state senators, helping with the day-to-day operations of the chamber.

One page mentioned he played baseball. He happened to be from Oklahoma. Inhofe had found his catcher.

The pages were now all in the loop, but Cassidy apparently wasn’t.

"No, not really. He just kind of pulled it out and threw it," he recalled. The mainly immovable cameras in the upper chamber didn’t show the recipient. Tracked down five years later, he, too, declined to comment for this story.

Another factor Cassidy could see that the C-SPAN viewer couldn’t: the reaction of Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate’s parliamentarian, to Inhofe’s use of a snowball as a prop during a floor speech. The parliamentarian is a nonpartisan referee who enforces the chamber’s rules, like one against using props.

"The parliamentarian was like, ‘What?! That shouldn’t be on here,’" Cassidy said, miming a frazzled reaction. MacDonough’s office didn’t respond to a request to confirm Cassidy’s recollection.

Later in Inhofe’s speech, he formally asked for retroactive unanimous consent to use his snowball, which Cassidy granted.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) responded to Inhofe’s speech later that day with one of his own, arguing that authorities including the Navy and NASA disagreed with Inhofe.

"You can believe NASA, and you can believe what their satellites measure on the planet, or you can believe the senator with the snowball," he said.

‘An illusion as to how far it went’

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla) and Mandy Gunasekara. Photo credit: C-SPAN[

Inhofe holding a snowball during a session of the Senate in 2015. To his right is aide Mandy Gunasekara, who is about to be EPA’s new chief of staff. | C-SPAN]

Cassidy also remembered seeing it on TV later. With the snowball going off the frame and the scale of the Senate chamber, the toss of a mere few feet looked much bigger.

"There was an illusion as to how far it went," Cassidy said. "Somehow, with the optics of TV, it looked different, as if it was more than it actually was, like Joe Burrow threw a touchdown pass," he said, referring to the Louisiana State University quarterback and 2019 Heisman Trophy winner.

In the coming days and weeks, mockery about the speech spread. Obama mentioned the speech in interviews to make fun of the GOP’s climate positions. Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" joined in, too.

"You think global warming is a hoax because you — in February — were able to collect one ball’s worth of snow," Stewart said on his show, calling Inhofe a "crazy old fuck."

Gunasekara said she wasn’t on Twitter at the time nor following the news closely, so she didn’t know that day what had happened.

"I was totally oblivious to it. And the next morning, Alex came in, and he said, ‘Sit down. You should know that millions of people saw your face last night.’ And I was like, ‘What? What are you talking about?’" she said, referring to Alex Herrgott, then deputy staff director at the Environment and Public Works Committee.

Herrgott is now executive director of the White House’s Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council. He’s not the only former Inhofe staffer from that time to land a job at the executive level.

Gunasekara, who starts her new job at EPA next week, is already facing fire from Democrats who question if she can be impartial, given her strong rhetoric against liberals and the secrecy behind the funding of her group (Greenwire, March 11).]

Andrew Wheeler, a former Environment and Public Works staff director under Inhofe, is EPA administrator, and Ryan Jackson, the staff director who hired Gunasekara, was EPA’s chief of staff until recently.

‘Boogeyman’

“Daily Show” host Jon Stewart commenting on Inhofe throwing a snowball. | Comedy Central

The snowball stuck with Obama. He revisited it throughout 2015 as he ramped up his climate agenda and advocated for what became the Paris Agreement.

He called Inhofe’s stunt "disturbing" in a Vice News interview the following month; said it was "stupid, shortsighted, irresponsible" in a comedy bit at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April; and mentioned it again while touring a melting glacier in Alaska in September.

The next year, he said the country wouldn’t find solutions to climate change "if we pretend a snowball in winter means nothing is wrong."

Jesse Lee, the White House’s rapid-response communications leader at the time, said the video of the speech quickly made the rounds among staff members.

To them, the snowball speech served as a symbol of the GOP’s position on climate change. It occurred around the time that "I’m not a scientist" became a frequent refrain for Republicans looking to avoid controversy over climate science.

"We were all very prepared for a real tough, hard-fought debate on climate, since we never had that in the past," Lee said.

"This was the moment when it really crystallized that actually, Republicans really didn’t have anything to show for themselves. Rather than look ridiculous, they would rather ignore it, and that left Inhofe standing there alone as the spokesman for them," he continued.

"It was an indication that we had a clear path to drive agenda. And, if anything, it emboldened us to be aggressive about it."

Gunasekara, for her part, doubts the speech changed any minds.

"People either saw it like, ‘That’s so funny how upset it makes people’ or ‘Oh, my gosh, I can’t believe Republicans think that,’" she said. "It emboldened whatever position somebody already had."

Marc Morano, a former Inhofe communications staffer from his earlier stint atop the Environment panel and climate skeptic who cheers on the mocking of Democrats and climate activists, said the speech was an excellent act of trolling, even if it didn’t change minds.

"He was having fun. It was a lot of fun," said Morano, now an executive at the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow.

"I don’t think it did anything; I just thought it was fun, and it was a great visual, and I think it really helped him," he said. "It gave the debate a lot of fun. It gave them their boogeyman, and he had fun being their boogeyman."

omg 2017 maloney oversight:

...
STATEMENT OF MANDY GUNASEKARA, FOUNDER, ENERGY 45, SENIOR
FELLOW, LIFE: POWERED PROJECT

Ms. Gunasekara. Thank you. Chairman Raskin, Ranking Member
Roy, and members of the committee, thank you for the
opportunity to testify today.
Before I start my testimony, I, like many of my colleagues
here, want to express my condolences to the family, this
committee, and the larger community for the passing of
Congressman Cummings. As a former House staffer, I was inspired
by his passion on issues he cared the most, and saw true
statesmanship in his willingness to reach across the aisle and
engage, not always agree, but respectfully engage with his
colleagues.
Climate change is an important issue, and it's one that I
personally worked on while serving in President Trump's
administration. I was proud to have helped author the first\-
ever constitutionally viable greenhouse gas emission standard
for our Nation's existing coal-fired power plants, the
Affordable Clean Energy rule, which replaced the famously
stayed Clean Power Plan.
  I was also proud to have drafted the legal and policy case
for exiting the Paris Climate Agreement, which represents the
flawed environmental policies of the last administration that
was quick to sell out American workers to curry favor among
international elites.
I was also very proud to be a part of the efforts to
refocus the agency on its core mission: to protect public
health and the environment by addressing tangible issues with
practical solutions.
Whereas the skewed priorities and mismanagement from the
last administration left EPA with the Flint, Michigan, crisis,
the contamination of the Animas River, and an unprecedented
backlog of submitted state environmental compliance plans,
today's EPA is much more efficient and much more effective.
This hearing, like many we've seen under today's extreme
Democrat leadership, is not premised on facts, it's not in
pursuit of a better understanding surrounding complex issues of
national importance, nor is it meant to produce any meaningful
solutions to any of your environmental challenges.
It is an attempt to revive a completely debunked effort
aimed at bankrupting one of our Nation's largest energy
companies. It is the latest product of a politically motivated
campaign hatched years ago by politicians, activists, and well\-
funded foundations that want to demonize an entire industry and
paint them as corrupt institutions that have, in their own
words, pushed humanity toward climate chaos.
This hyperbolic rhetoric is dishonest, the purported
policies are ineffective, and it represents all that is wrong
in the mainstream environmental discussion.
Our energy industry and the men and women who work in it
are to be celebrated, not demonized. This country's ability to
harness our vast energy resources in a responsible and an
efficient manner has changed millions of lives for the better.
It is why life expectancy and economic growth, both important
indicators of human flourishing, have significantly improved.
Advancements in fossil-based energy and the development of
modern economies has provided access to live-saving
technologies, like heat during winter, water treatment,
medicine, and refrigeration.
A stark contrast exists today in countries that do not have
sophisticated energy systems or access to affordable, reliable
electricity. In parts of the developing world, life expectancy
today is 10 to 20 years shorter and children under 5 regularly
succumb to preventable diseases.
The reality is that we could change these outcomes by
sharing our successful energy technologies, not by prohibiting
their use as a result of misaligned environmental policies.
Our successful energy industry is also why we lead the
world in environmental progress. Advancements in natural gas
extraction that led to horizontal drilling have been a key
driver of our world-leading emissions reductions. As the
International Energy Agency recently stated, U.S. overall
reductions represent, quote, ``the largest absolute decline
among all countries since 2000.''
We also lead the world in clean air progress. Today we are
breathing the cleanest air on record, having reduced six
criteria pollutants, including lead and ozone, by 74 percent
since 1970. We are also home to the cleanest drinking water in
the world.
Additionally, the Trump administration has prioritized $4
billion of investments in replacing aging infrastructure and
reinvigorated the Superfund program, which has resulted in the
largest number of once-contaminated lands being cleaned up and
reintroduced into productive use.
Because these regulatory and deregulatory actions carefully
balance the costs and benefits, EPA is advancing environmental
protection without forcing the American people to pay excessive
costs, either directly or indirectly, through inflated energy
costs.
This thoughtful approach is especially important for
vulnerable and socio-economically disadvantaged communities
that spend a significantly higher portion of their monthly
income on energy costs. As such, they are significantly
impacted by high-cost environmental policies, some of which
have been promoted by members of this committee, like the Green
New Deal.
A survey by the National Energy Assistance Directors
Association found that in the face of increased energy costs,
low-income and fixed-income Americans will forego trips to the
doctor, keep their house at unsafe temperatures, reduce
medication, and skip meals. No American should be forced to
make these types of unhealthy decisions, and the good news is
that we don't have to pick.
President Trump has demonstrated how the best environmental
actions are focused on balancing the goals of economic growth
alongside reducing pollution, not pitting these interests
against each other.
Thank you again for the opportunity, and I look forward to
your questions.
Mr. Raskin. And thank you for your testimony, Ms.
Gunasekara.
We are going to now launch into our five-minute-per-member
questioning period....  Mr. Comer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And thank you all for being here today.
My first questions are going to be for Dr. Garvey and Dr.
Hoffert.
You all, at any time while you were working with
ExxonMobil's Research, was their research out of step with the
academic research community at that time?
Mr. Garvey. No, it was not.
Mr. Hoffert. No, it was not. It was not. It was basically
reinforcing academic research all over the world as reflected
in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which
summarizes all the peer-reviewed research on climate change all
over the world.
Mr. Comer. Was any of your all's work ever published in
scientific journals?
Mr. Garvey. There was one article published from the tanker
project directly, and then some of the data was published in
other articles by Columbia University.
Mr. Hoffert. Yes. Our work was profusely published, and
it's not easy to do. You have to get two peer reviewers. And
these were quality journals.
All in all, and there are eight papers on Exxon's own list
of 100 papers that they wrote or they contributed to, in
climate change that were produced by our group. And as I said
in my introductory statement, from 1981 to 1987, when I was a
paid consultant, and I continued to cooperate after I was a
paid consultant with my Exxon colleagues, we published five
more papers in peer-reviewed journals.
Mr. Comer. Mr. Chairman, the New York attorney general and
many others leading climate change litigation efforts across
the country would have us believe that the oil and gas industry
hid key science for decades from the American public.
Publishing work that is consistent with academic research in
scientific journals seems like an odd way to go about hiding
anything, and I just wanted to make that point.
Now, Ms. Gunasekara, my question for you. Environmental
activists have acknowledged that one of their goals is to
encourage strategic litigation that would bring internal
company documents into the public domain. These documents would
then be used to develop negative narratives about the oil and
gas companies.
Do you believe these lawsuits are really in the best public
interest?
Ms. Gunasekara. No, I don't. I don't believe they're good
for the American people.
And when it comes to what they purport to do, which is
improve the environment, it has no relative impact, whether
you're talking about these frivolous lawsuits protesting the
Keystone XL pipeline or encouraging divestment. That has no
real impact on the environment and it does nothing to advance
the interests of the American people.
Mr. Comer. Well, then, how does taking money from companies
that are driving innovation and giving it to trial lawyers help
the American people?
Ms. Gunasekara. I don't think it helps them at all. I think
that drivers of innovation are where the solutions to any
current and future challenges will come, and it's in the best
interests of policymakers and the American people to seek out
and support these institutions, not to demonize them in the
ways that we've seen from this relative campaign.
Mr. Comer. Right. I know that you were involved in the
President's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate
agreement. Can you talk about the reasoning behind his decision
to do that?
Ms. Gunasekara. Yes, absolutely. It came down to a number
of factors, but most notably the fact that it was going to ship
American jobs overseas to countries like China and India that
don't use basic pollution control technology our industrial
operators have been using for decades.
So you were going to take economic opportunity and jobs,
ship them overseas, and then exacerbate air quality issues,
some of which are finding their way over here to this country,
and undermine efforts to reduce greenhouse gases.
Mr. Comer. I think that my questions make a solid point
that at the time the industry was doing exactly what we as
Americans wanted and there was no scientific data to diminish
the job that the oil and gas industry was doing with what
Chairman Roy said in providing our standard of living, fueling
our tremendous economy, doing things that help Americans live
longer than people from other countries.
So this is something that we've talked about in the
Environment Subcommittee many times. We've had this climate
change topic with at least three committee hearings in the
Environment Subcommittee.
So I just wanted to make that statement. Demonizing these
countries, fueling trial attorneys to have more frivolous
lawsuits is not going to achieve any objective that we have
today as we move forward to talk about ways to improve the
climate.
So with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Mr. Raskin. All right. Well, thank you for joining us
today.... Ms. Oreskes. But we can demonstrate that both companies,
both before, and ExxonMobil continued misleading advertisements
after the merger.
Mrs. Miller. I'd like you to prove that.
Moving on, Ms. Gunasekara, can you elaborate how the United
States has been a leader in reducing emissions?
Ms. Gunasekara. Yes, absolutely.
According to the Energy Information Administration here in
the United States, we have reduced our energy-related CO2
emissions by about 14 percent from 2005. Compare that to the
rest of the world that has increased their emissions by 20
percent.
A large driver of this, as I mentioned in my testimony, is
the fact that we have inspired and supported innovations in the
energy industry, fossil-based energy industry, that will
continue to be an important source of reliable and affordable
electricity.
And because we have spurred continued investment in these
types of innovations from extraction to refinement, use, and
then transmission, we have the cleanest, most efficiently
produced energy in the world.
Which is why we spent significantly less, from the Federal
Government perspective, having these types of outcomes, whereas
you look at some places, like Germany and France, that have
embraced these top-down, overarching, expensive approaches,
they spent billions of dollars but don't have equivalent
emission reduction to actually show for it.
Mrs. Miller. Thank you.
How would moving to a full renewable scheme come at the
detriment to the American jobs, the economy, and the
environment?
Ms. Gunasekara. It would be hugely devastating because it
would make the price of energy immediately go up. Wind and
solar have a role in a diverse energy mix, but not a base load
role. And when it comes to ensuring access to affordable and
reliable energy, you have to have a base load power source that
today is provided by primarily natural gas and coal, as well as
nuclear energy.
So a shift to wind and solar, which is primarily what folks
are talking about in this context, we'd have to get used to
rolling blackouts, because when the wind doesn't blow and the
sun doesn't shine those energy sources don't provide the energy
needed to fuel commerce and to get people to where they need to
go.
So it would not only be hugely detrimental to the day-to\-
day life standard of living for everyone, but it would undercut
our ability to compete in an increasing global atmosphere where
jobs and economic productivity would no doubt be shipped to
overseas countries that don't ascribe to environmental
protections that are remotely similar to what we do here in
this country.
Mrs. Miller. So it would be detrimental to everyone?
Ms. Gunasekara. Yes.
Mrs. Miller. Thank you.
I yield back my time.
Mr. Raskin. Thank you very much, Mrs. Miller.
I recognize now the gentlelady from the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, Ms. Pressley.
Ms. Pressley. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
There's an old adage in my home community that says: When
everyone else catches a cold, Black folks catch pneumonia.
The point is, everyone is sick. The issue is just at
varying degrees of disease, of illness. And that is certainly
true when it comes to the climate crisis. It is felt by all of
us, but the greatest burdens are borne by the most vulnerable
people of color, low-income communities, immigrants, and non\-
native English speakers, all communities most at risk of poor
health outcomes and least able to relocate or to rebuild after
a disaster.
And my district, the Massachusetts Seventh, one of the most
vibrant, diverse, and unequal districts in the country, is
certainly not immune.... I now recognize Mr. Massie for five minutes of questions.
Mr. Massie. Thank you very much.
Dr. Hoffert, do you support a CO2 tax?
Mr. Hoffert. You're asking me directly. Yes, I do but\--
sorry. I always forget this.
Mr. Massie. Did you say yes, you support a CO2 tax?
Mr. Hoffert. Yes, but it's not\--I don't think the question
is properly formatted.
Mr. Massie. Okay. Well, I get to ask it. I'll ask you
another followup.
Mr. Hoffert. I understand. A carbon tax. Depends on the
details.
Mr. Massie. Reclaiming my time.
Mr. Hoffert. Yes.
Mr. Massie. Reclaiming my time.
Dr. Garvey, do you support a CO2 tax?
Mr. Garvey. I support that the Congress needs to deal with
the problem and decide how best to manage CO2.
Mr. Massie. Do you think it's a good tool to do it?
Mr. Garvey. I'm not a legislature.
Mr. Massie. So you're not qualified to comment on that.
Mr. Garvey. That's correct.
Mr. Massie. Okay. Thank you very much.
Dr. Oreskes, do you support a CO2 tax?
Ms. Oreskes. Well, let me say that I'm not an expert on
taxation policies, but leading economists around the globe,
including my good colleague Nicholas Stern, with whom I have an
op-ed piece in today's New York Times, who wrote the Stern
report, former economist at the World Bank, he and virtually
all of his colleagues do think that carbon pricing is an
effective way to address the issue without damaging the
economy.
Mr. Massie. Okay.
Ms. Eubanks, do you support a CO2 tax?
Ms. Eubanks. Not necessarily.
Mr. Massie. Okay.
Dr. Ali, do you support a CO2 tax?
Mr. Ali. Not if it creates hot spots and hot zones.
Mr. Massie. So there are only two people here that support
a CO2 tax.
Dr. Hoffert, what should the tax be per ton?
Mr. Hoffert. I prefer something called a fee-and-dividend
tax, you're probably familiar with it, because it uses market
mechanisms, and essentially all of the money collected, except
for administrative fees, would be returned to taxpayers. I
think that given the polarization in the United States\----
Mr. Massie. Can you tell me what the fee would be?
Mr. Hoffert [continuing]. that would be the most viable way
to\----
Mr. Massie. Can you tell me what the fee would be?
Mr. Hoffert. I can't, because I haven't prepared the
specific numbers on that.
Mr. Massie. Okay.
Dr. Oreskes, what would your fee be?
Ms. Oreskes. Well, it wouldn't be my fee. I think that's a
very unfair way of posing the question. I think this whole line
of questioning is a bit weird for this committee. But since you
asked\----
Mr. Massie. It's not weird because the presumption\--let me
get to my point here, which you all are doing a great job of
making.
The presumption of this hearing being held in the Civil
Rights and Civil Liberties Committee is that somehow raising
the price of energy would help the economically challenged in
our society.
Ms. Oreskes. Okay.
Mr. Massie. Ms. Gunasekara, can you talk about the impact
of the price of energy on\----
Ms. Oreskes. Well, could I answer that?
Mr. Massie. No, I'm asking\--you had a chance.
Ms. Gunasekara, could you talk about the impact of the
rising price of energy if there were a CO2 tax on vulnerable
populations?
Ms. Gunasekara. Yes. And let me say for the record, I do
not support a tax on CO2, primarily because it would increase
the price of energy and electricity. We know the impacts
because you've seen this happen in Germany where energy and
electricity is now a luxury commodity.
So a significant number of studies were done during the
last administration assessing the impact of cost increases
affiliated with their Clean Power Plan.
One of the studies that stood out to me was from the Black
Chamber of Commerce that found that it would result in hundreds
of thousands of less jobs in the Hispanic and Black
communities, as well as communities where people are living on
fixed-income or low-income budgets.
It would force them to make decisions where they forego
meals, they keep their house at unsafe temperatures, they stop
going to the doctor, and they don't seek out preventive
healthcare because of the costs that they're trying to save in
order to afford expensive electricity.
Mr. Massie. Thank you very much.
Dr. Ali, you stated that most of the refineries are located
in minority communities. Is that true?
Mr. Ali. I said disproportionately located.
Mr. Massie. Disproportionately located. Can you give us an
example of one that's not?
Mr. Ali. That's not located in a community of color?
Mr. Massie. Yes.
Mr. Ali. No, I can't, not at this\----
Mr. Massie. Let me give you an example. There's one in my
district, and it provides jobs. It's actually one of the best
things that's ever happened to our district because we have a
problem with brain drain in eastern Kentucky. People grow up,
they want to get an education and get a career in STEM. And the
one opportunity we have is at that refinery.
I worked there three summers while I was a college student.
The only opportunity that I had to get a job in science,
technology, engineering, and math, was at that refinery.
If you could wave a wand and make those refineries go away
from the communities of color, would you do that?
Mr. Ali. I always honor the work that has happened in the
past when we didn't have other opportunities for different
types of energy sources. I would.
Mr. Massie. Would your community be better\--would those
communities be better off or worse off without those jobs in
those refineries?
Mr. Ali. That's why we talk about a just transition. That's
why we talk about getting advanced manufacturing opportunities.
That's why we talk about solar, wind, thermal.
Mr. Massie. Would you answer my question? Are you better
off or worse off with that refinery in those communities?
Mr. Ali. You're worse off because of the health impacts,
and you can get other types of industries in those areas.
Mr. Massie. Well, if they leave those communities, please
send another one to my congressional district, because it has
been a godsend to our congressional district, particularly for
the people who need jobs....
Mr. Roy. Ms. Gunasekara, do you support nuclear power?
Ms. Gunasekara. Yes.
Mr. Roy. Why? Quickly, you may.
Ms. Gunasekara. Well, it's the largest source of reliable
base load energy that is zero emission. It's one of the safest
forms\----
Mr. Roy. Right.
Ms. Gunasekara [continuing]. of electricity and will
continue to be a part of our diverse energy\----
Mr. Roy. I'm always amazed at those who believe that the
sky is falling within 10 years that will refuse to say that we
should adopt nuclear power. Because if you want abundant energy
to power the United States of America, to get these buildings
lit up, to have electricity flow around the world in order to
make people, lift them out of poverty, the billion people that
we blithely ignore while we go around talking about things that
sound good in Davos and go in the cocktail circuits talking
about climate change, ignoring the 1 billion people that have
been lifted out of poverty, we could solve these problems with
nuclear power.
Yet the left comes in here and says: We don't want to adopt
nuclear power in most respects. I'll give some credit to
Secretary Kerry, who in this very room said, yes, we should
adopt nuclear power, and to Dr. Hoffert for saying so and Dr.
Garvey.
Here's a point that I'd like to make in concluding. My
grandfather-in-law, my wife's grandfather, Alan Key, moved to
the panhandle of Texas in the 1930's after growing up in a
very, very poor household in Arkansas. He lived by himself in a
cabin, dirt floors, worked himself up working for Phillips
Petroleum. For 55 years, he worked for Phillips Petroleum
working in a plant in Phillips just outside of Borger, Texas,
his whole life. He passed away at 94 years, 94-years-old.
His work, working for those companies, allowed my wife, her
brother, to go to Texas A&M University, the children of a
single mom, because he worked his whole life there helping
produce the very lifeblood of our economy.
And forgive me for getting a little aggravated when, yes,
Texas is being attacked directly. I'll put aside all the
highfalutin stuff about what energy does for the rest of the
world. You want to talk about minority impact? Go look at
Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. How do we get power to Africa?
Lifting people out of poverty around the world because of
clean abundant energy that we can make available to the world,
that's what should be our motives, that's what should be our
goals. This is what should be motivating us instead of talking
about what theoretical impacts might be existing here as
opposed to the direct, calculable impacts on people's lives by
clean abundant energy available to them every single day.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Raskin. All right. Mr. Roy, I just want to say, at
least on behalf of myself, I assume I speak for a lot of people
on the panel, none of you have ever\--or at least I've never
been to Davos, and I'm not on the cocktail circuit. I'm pretty
much a prohibitionist and pretty abstemious myself. So I'm not
quite sure who that reference was directed at.
I will say that the witnesses have been very kind in
responding to a series of questions they were not invited to
come here to testify about. What we're looking at is the oil
industry's awareness and knowledge of the impact of their
business on climate change, and what they did and what they
didn't do historically, and how that informs what we're going
to do going forward.
So this has nothing to do with nuclear power. I'm sorry
that some of the witnesses apparently disappointed you in
taking a position for nuclear power. There was no litmus test
on nuclear power or any other issue. We have brought in the
people who we found most expert on the question before us.
All right. With that, I'm going to call on Ms. Wasserman
Schultz, who's recognized for her five minutes of questioning.
Ms. Wasserman Schultz. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman.
As my colleagues I know mentioned, ExxonMobil has a long,
treacherous history of hiding what it knew about climate
science. But there is no question that multinational mega\-
corporation has gotten more slippery with regards to its stance
and actions on climate change. The company now claims to
support the Paris agreement even as Trump is trying to pull us
out of it.
You'll see on the slide here, in a January 2018 blog post,
Exxon public affair's director explained, quote, ``We believe
the risk of climate change is real and we are committed to
being part of the solution.'' However, ExxonMobil's corporate
website recently stated, and I quote, ``Current scientific
understanding provides limited guidance on the likelihood,
magnitude, or timeframe.''
This seems like a double-down on their old-fashioned
playbook of denial and obfuscation to me.
So Dr. Hoffert, do you agree with ExxonMobil's statement
highlighted on the screen, the one that I just read, where they
say that\----
Mr. Hoffert. Please read it.
Ms. Wasserman Schultz. ``Current scientific understanding
provides limited guidance on the likelihood, magnitude, or
timeframe.''
Mr. Hoffert. Could you please say when that statement was
made?
Mr. Raskin. 2018.
Ms. Wasserman Schultz. Last year.
Mr. Hoffert. Okay. Of course, that's absolutely incorrect. 
As far as something like 90\--over 95 percent\-- of scientists
who publish in peer-reviewed journals\--and that's very
important to us because it means it's been vetted and
critically reviewed\--agree that humans are having an effect, a
noticeable effect on climate.
And it's more quantitative than that. As I mentioned
before, we call this era, the era of the Anthropocene, meaning
that humans are now the dominant effect on the environment of
the Earth, for better or worse.
Of course, the evidence\--and I've been working on this for
30 years\--has increasingly shown that the prediction of climate
change from CO2 emissions, mainly from fossil fuels, has
increased\--has eventually caused climate change.
Starting from back in the 1980's, when the Earth was
actually cooling, I remember I was working at the Goddard
Institute for Space Studies, we made an estimate that the
climate change would start\----
Ms. Wasserman Schultz. My time is shrinking.
Mr. Hoffert. Sorry about that. It's an interesting story.
Ms. Wasserman Schultz. It is, I'm confident. And you're a
former Exxon consultant, correct?
Mr. Hoffert. I'm a former Exxon consultant, yes.
Ms. Wasserman Schultz. Okay. Thank you so much.
Dr. Garvey, how would you respond to the claim that science
provides limited guidance about the risks posed by climate
change?
Mr. Garvey. Let me just start by saying that I've not
studied climate change for the last 30 years. I was a
researcher at Exxon for 5. But I would say that there's a lot
of information in the literature that provides strong and clear
guidance as to what the planet is likely to be subject to.
Ms. Wasserman Schultz. And do you believe that ExxonMobil
is committed to being part of the solution?
Mr. Garvey. I don't feel comfortable commenting on that. I
really don't know.
Ms. Wasserman Schultz. You don't know. Okay.
Dr. Oreskes, what do you think ExxonMobil is doing\--is
trying to do here with scientifically inaccurate statements
like this?
Ms. Oreskes. I think they're trying to do the same thing
that we know they've done for 30 years, which is to confuse
people, to make people think that the issue is not sufficiently
certain as to provide a basis for moving forward.
And if I could just answer the question you put to Mr.
Garvey.
Ms. Wasserman Schultz. Yes.
Ms. Oreskes. We know that ExxonMobil is not really
committed to action on climate change because of their
expiration profile.
I'm a geologist by training. I started my career as an
expiration geologist. When you explore for new oil and gas
reserves, you are committing to developing and using those
reserves 20, 30, 40, 50, even 100 years into the future, and
that belies their claim to be committed to this issue.
Ms. Wasserman Schultz. Yes. And when they bury a statement
that clearly is the opposite of what their public affairs
director said, that they are essentially trying to speak out of
both sides of their proverbial mouth.
Ms. Oreskes. Exactly.
Ms. Wasserman Schultz. Dr. Ali, how would you describe the
seriousness with which the company has responded to warnings
that climate change will have disproportionate impacts on
communities of color?
Mr. Ali. I don't think they're serious at all.
Ms. Wasserman Schultz. What gives you that feeling?
Mr. Ali. Because they know, one, the impacts that they've
had for decades now on our most vulnerable communities. They
know also that they are going to drive more storms, more
significant climatic events that are going to
disproportionately hurt those communities. So I say that I
don't think they're that serious about the concerns of our most
vulnerable\----
Ms. Wasserman Schultz. Have you noticed that they've taken
any significant steps toward addressing the impact of climate
change and their effect on climate change in communities of
color?
Mr. Ali. I think the best way to answer that is that I've
worked in over 500 communities, I have constant conversations
with the leaders in those communities, and it's never once been
relayed to me that they feel that they are doing anything of
significance to better protect their lives....====

oreskes wr test:

...

IV. Third Party Allies Continue to Make Inaccurate Claims, Offer Partial Truths, and

Promote Misleading Narratives

The role of third-party allies was on full display in last week’s house hearings, where Republican

members invited as their sole witness the founder and President of Energy45, a group whose

purpose, in their own words, is to “support the Trump energy agenda.”

Energy45 is part of a group known as the CO2 Coalition. This illustrates a strategy that I call

“zombie denialism,” in which old players and arguments reappear in new forms.

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, a leader in climate change disinformation was the George C.

Marshall Institute. Its director, William O’Keefe, was the long-time Executive Vice President and

CEO of the American Petroleum Institute (1974-1999). The Marshall Institute closed in 2015, only

to remerge a few years later as the CO2 Coalition.

The representative of Energy45 was Mandy Gunasekera, a political operative who formerly worked

in Trump administration and as counsel to Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe. (She was, evidently,

the staffer who passed the Senator hisinfamous snowball on the Senate floor.) Under questioning,

she acknowledged that her organization is funded by the Mercer Family, who are well known for

supporting groups that deny the scientific consensus on climate change, and by Koch Industries.

Although we were all under oath—promising to tell the whole truth—Ms. Gunasekera testified to

several half-truths and made misleading claims. Some of her claims were demonstrably untrue.

These included:

1) The misleading claim that climate change will be “mild and manageable.” There is no scientific

evidence to support this claim. On the contrary, literally hundreds of scientific reports over

the past few decades, including the U.S. National Climate Impact Assessments, have

affirmed that the impacts of warming above 2o C will lead to serious, perhaps catastrophic,

effects on “health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security, and economic

growth.”17 The IPCC has recently noted that avoiding the worst impacts of climate change

will “require rapid and far-reaching transitions in energy, … infrastructure...and industrial

systems…These systems transitions … imply deep emissions reductions in all sectors, a wide

portfolio of mitigation options and a significant upscaling of investments in those options.”18

One could argue that, as projections, these statements cannot be proven, but recent events

surrounding Hurricanes Sandy, Michael, Harvey and Maria, as well as the devastating

wildfires at Paradise California, have shown that the impacts of climate change are already

becoming unmanageable. Moreover, a just-issued report from the Army War College states

that “the Department of Defense (DoD) is precariously unprepared for the national security

implications of climate change-induced global security challenges.”19 If the Pentagon is not

prepared to manage climate change, it is hard to imagine who is.

2) A misleading narrative about global prosperity being driven by fossil fuels. No one denies that fossil

fuels drove the Industrial Revolution, and in doing so contributed substantively to the rise in

living standards of hundreds of millions of people in Europe, North America, and parts of

Asia. But this is at best a half-truth, because what is at stake here is not the past but the

present and the future, because disruptive climate change threatens both the prosperity that

we have already achieved and future economic growth. As Nicholas Stern, the former Chief

Economist of the World Bank and one of the world’s foremost experts on the economics of

change, has said: “high carbon growth self-destructs.”20

3) A misleading and arguably false narrative about “cheap energy.” Fossil fuels are not cheap. When

their external costs are considered, they are in fact very expensive. The International

Monetary Fund estimates the costs to consumers—above and beyond what we pay at the

pump or in our electricity bills—at over $5 trillion dollars per year. Trillion. This is in effect

a massive subsidy to the oil and gas industry. Among other things, these subsidies “damage

the environment, caus[e]…premature deaths through local air pollution, [and] exacerbat[e]

congestion and other adverse side effects of vehicle use…” 21

4) A misleading narrative about “energy poverty.” This narrative, which has been heavily promoted

by ExxonMobil, insists that fossil fuels are the solution to the energy needs of the world’s

poor.

22 The idea that ExxonMobil is suddenly concerned about the plight of the global poor

is prima facie—and I might add literally—incredible, for if they were concerned, they would

not be downplaying the threat of climate change.

As Pope Francis, Mary Robinson, Ban KiMoon and others advocates for poverty reduction and global justice have repeatedly

emphasized—and as we heard in last week’s House hearings—climate change will hurt the

poor above all. A fossil fuel company that cared about the poor would not be pursuing a

business model that commits to further oil and gas exploration and development, and

through it, to further disruptive climate change.23 The cynicism behind this argument is

simply astonishing.

Moreover, while it is true that people need affordable energy, it is not true that they need

fossil fuels.24 More than a billion people world-wide lack access or reliable access to electricity,

but many of these also lack access to an electricity grid. Fossil fuels are of little use for them.

For communities without access to an electricity grid, distributed solar and wind are the only

solutions that can be rapidly and affordably implemented. They also do not rely on

government officials who may be corrupt, corruption that is often linked to oil and gas

development. 25

5) Misleading assertions about the cost of renewable energy. The cheap fossil fuel narrative is coupled to

misleading assertions about the allegedly high cost of renewable energy. According to

Bloomberg News, in two-thirds of the world, solar is the cheapest form of newly installed

electricity generation. It is cheaper than nuclear, cheaper than gas, and cheaper than coal.26

Improvements in energy storage are needed to maximize renewable penetration, particularly

in developed countries, but improvements are happening quickly. Between 2010 and 2017,

The price of battery storage decreased 79%, and most experts believe that with the right

incentives, appropriate regulatory reform, and continued support of R & D in industry

government, and academia, the storage problem can and will be solved.

6) The false claim that the U.S. under President Trump has cut greenhouse gas emissions. Both Ms.

Gunasekara and Republican members repeatedly claimed not only that emissions had fallen,

but that the United States under President Trump had done more to reduce emissions than

any other country.This is untrue. One environmental reporter, who has described herself

as “accustomed to hearing a lot of misinformation” about climate change, characterized this

statement as “brazenly false.”27 In fact, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions spiked in 2018, seeing

a 3.1% increase over 2017. 28

7) The claim that carbon pricing increases the cost of energy. This is also false. Carbon pricing increases

the cost of carbon-based energy, and deliberately so. The purpose is to make the price we pay

reflect the true cost, and therefore correct a market failure. Moreover, to the extent that a

carbon pricing system stimulates investment and innovation in the renewable sector, in

efficiency, and in storage, it is like to reduce the cost of energy in the long run, as indeed

emissions trading did in the case of acid rain.29

In our 2010 book, Merchants of Doubt, Erik M. Conway and I showed that the strategies and tactics

used by the fossil fuel industry to deny the harms of fossil fuel use were in many cases the same as

those used by the tobacco industry to deny the harms of tobacco use. We further showed that this

was no coincidence, because many of the same individuals, PR firms, advertising agencies, and

institutions were involved in both (Appendix 18).

The tobacco industry was prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice under the RICO statutes in

part because of the ways in which individual companies coordinated with each other, and with third

party allies, to present false information to consumers. Through Congressional hearings and legal

discovery, it was made clear that the industry had funded a wide range of activities intended to

mislead the American people. I believe that something similar has occurred with respect to the

harms of fossil fuels.

...

ALI:

And we do not have to choose between the environment and
jobs. That is a 20th century paradigm that no longer can be in
place, because the IPCC report, the National Climate Assessment
report, they are very clear. These scientists are not biased.
They are telling us what's about to happen.
And if we are not willing to do what's right, then we are
responsible for our children's lives and our children's
children's lives who are going to have to deal with these
impacts.
Mr. Raskin. All right. The gentlelady's time has expired.
Thank you for that answer.
And we go finally to the Ranking Member, Mr. Roy, for his
final five-minute questioning.
Mr. Roy. I thank the chairman.
I thank my colleagues, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. And thanks for us
having additional time.
Ms. Gunasekara, let me ask you a question. Do you know what
the most deadly hurricane has been in North American history to
the best of or at least of our knowledge?
Ms. Gunasekara. I think it was over 100 years ago.
Mr. Roy. Yes. It was in Galveston, Texas. We know well the
damage there.
Do you know what the impact was to minority communities
there.
Ms. Gunasekara. I don't know specifically.
Mr. Roy. Yes, I don't know either, because I don't know
what the racial makeup was in 1900. What I know is, is that
Galveston got crushed and 6,000 to 12,000 people died in 1900.
Let me ask you this question. We've heard a lot about,
again here, the impact on lives, on those who are\--whether
they're minority communities or poor, those that we're talking
about in kind of the context of the Civil Rights and Civil
Liberties Subcommittee here.
And my colleague here has raised this question, and I've
raised this question, but I wanted you to explore it a little
bit more, about the direct impact on the lives of the
disadvantaged in the United States of America and/or around the
world if we are to pursue an agenda of ending, for example,
fracking, as at least one leading Democratic Presidential
candidate has suggested.
Ms. Gunasekara. Well, you'd not only put billions\--sorry\--
millions\--up to millions\--a couple hundred thousand and up to a
million people out of work in this country alone, you'd be
ascribing the families and the communities that depend on them
as a source of income to a life of potential poverty.
Around the world the implications are even graver. Fossil\-
based energy enables the modern economy, and with the modern
economy you have access to life-saving healthcare,
refrigeration for food, all sorts of technologies that are
built on fossil-based energy systems.
And you can change people's lives. There are a billion
people today that don't have access to electricity, and if we
were to give them a reliable source of electricity through the
most efficient technologies that we use here today, with some
of these countries overseas, you'd not only be lifting up the
standard of living in areas where they're living in extreme
poverty, but you'd also be extending their life expectancy, and
they'd be enjoying the benefits of a modern economy that we,
frankly, take for granted in this country.
Mr. Roy. Can I ask you a question? Do you oppose solar
power?
Ms. Gunasekara. No, not at all.
Mr. Roy Wind power?
Ms. Gunasekara. No.
Mr. Roy. Which state is one of the leading states in solar
power\--or wind power, I'm sorry, as a percentage of its grid?
Ms. Gunasekara. I believe you said earlier it was Texas. I
was listening.
Mr. Roy. Texas is, if not the leading, one of the leading
sources, you know, of use of solar power\--I'm sorry, wind
power\--to produce energy for its grid.
This summer, however, because we have been taking down some
of the base load coal-fired plants, we've had some situations
where we were concerned about bumping up against and having to
potentially have rolling blackouts. Why? Because we have
difficulty in getting some of that wind power to places
distributed around the state and to be able to rely on it as a
core element of our grid, empowering our grid.
And I earlier referenced the 84 percent of our overall
power that comes\--64 percent for fossil fuels, 20 percent from
nuclear. And my question for you is, when we look backward
here, as this hearing is supposed to be doing with respect to
certain companies about our use of fossil fuels, what would
have been possible in 1980 or 2000 at some point in terms of
powering our grid in the United States of America, for the
lifeblood of people's lives, with solar and/or wind power?
Ms. Gunasekara. You certainly would not have seen the
economic growth we've seen today with the continued use of
coal-fired power plants and the exponential growth that has
occurred alongside of the natural gas boom. You certainly
wouldn't see the historic economic growth we've seen today
under President Trump, where we have 6 million new jobs, the
lowest unemployment rates across the board when it comes to
women, minorities, and other previously disadvantaged
communities that were held captive in poverty.
Mr. Roy. And if I might add, the robust economic growth
that has been led by the state of Texas, significantly, and
that is in significant part because of natural gas and the
ability to export liquefied natural gas. And how important is
the exportation of liquefied natural gas to those countries
around the world for those people who are predominantly
concerned about CO2?
Ms. Gunasekara. It's significantly important from
geopolitical stability, No. 1, and No. 2, there are significant
environmental benefits. There's a recent report from the
National Energy Technology Lab, that did an assessment of
lifecycle emissions affiliated with U.S. LNG sent to European
and Asian markets compared to gas from Russia, and U.S. LNG
shipped to European markets has 41 percent less emissions,
lifecycle emissions, than if those same countries were to
receive natural gas from another predominant producer like
Russia.
So significant implications in terms of reducing overall
emissions but providing energy to the allies who need it abroad
to, again, enable the modern economies that make life so much
better.
Mr. Roy. Thank you, ma'am.
Mr. Raskin. All right. And thank you, Mr. Roy.
Before I close, for the record I want to introduce four
Exxon internal memoranda, dated June 6, 1978, October 16, 1979,
August 3, 1998, and October 13, 1997, as well as the April 3,
1998, American Petroleum Institute Action Plan. Without
objection, those will be admitted into the record.

wapo

no lnx

Democracy Dies in Darkness

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The Energy 202: This former EPA appointee wants to make climate change a winning issue for Trump

By Dino Grandoni

June 19

THE LIGHTBULB

Mandy Gunasekara.

Democratic contenders for president are trying to make climate change a top electoral issue. But one Trump appointee who recently left the Environmental Protection Agency wants to make sure it is a winning issue for her former boss instead.

Since leaving [why? why then?] the EPA in February, Mandy Gunasekara formed what she calls a “pro-Trump nonprofit” called Energy 45 to help promote Trump’s energy agenda. She's been busy writing op-eds for newspapers such as USA Today and appearing on television networks such as Fox News to be a counterweight to the chorus of critics bemoaning Trump administration efforts to dismantle its predecessor’s climate agenda.

“I think what Republicans are starting to understand is, we need to be better about communicating the good work that we're doing,” Gunasekara, the former deputy assistant administrator of the EPA's air office, said in an interview Tuesday.

“I always say, we're right on the policy, we're right on the facts,” she added. “But what we're not great at is conveying that.”

As Trump formally launched his reelection bid last night, he himself leaned into his energy record and touted the country's position as the world's No. 1 petroleum and natural gas producer during a rally in Orlando.

"We've ended the last administration's cruel, and heartless war on American energy," he told the crowd of supporters. "What they were doing to our energy should never be forgotten."

Gunasekara is hardly the first Trump figure to leverage her time in government into media appearances. But few have been talking specifically about energy and environmental policy.

Now she and other Trump fans are gearing up to defend what is perhaps the EPA’s biggest new policy change yet: an overhaul of the Obama administration’s signature climate regulation for coal-fired power plants.

Gunasekara’s former boss, EPA chief Andrew Wheeler, is expected to finalize on Wednesday a rule empowering states to establish their own emission standards for electric generation.

The plan is projected to cut CO2 emissions roughly 34 percent below 2005 levels over the next decade-and-a-half, a pace that is likely slower than what the industry is already doing in the absence of any federal regulation.

But Gunasekara already has her talking points ready: She cites data from the International Energy Agency that indicates the United States has seen some of the largest decreases in overall greenhouse gas emissions, driven in large part by cheaper natural gas replacing coal in power generation rather than regulations.

The Obama administration, she said, “co-opted important agency missions as a means to expand the federal government.”

Still, the United States is still reducing emissions too slowly to help stave off some of the worst effects of climate change as described in a recent landmark United Nations report.

And Gunasekara is, unsurprisingly, also no fan for climate plans put forward by former vice president Joe Biden and other Democratic White House hopefuls, which she calls “different iterations of the Green New Deal.”

“The Green New Deal is premised more on socialism than anything you would find historically within the governing approach of America,” she said.

Gunasekara, who was also a former senior adviser to then-EPA chief Scott Pruitt and helped run the air and radiation office, was one of the architects of Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate agreement,under which nearly every nation agreed to voluntarily cut heat-trapping emissions.

But she is perhaps best known for handing a snowball to another former boss, Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), to prove that climate change had not ended winters. At the time, in 2015, she was working as counsel on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

For the moment, she is the boss of her own “one-woman show,” she said, splitting her time between Washington and Mississippi. Energy 45 is organized as a501(c) (4), which is not required to disclose its donors.

“It’s not atypical to have a very small operation for this type of organization,” said Anna Massoglia, a researcher at the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks the movement of “dark money.”

Gunasekara declined to specify the contributors. “I would just define my support is coming from folks who align with the mission of the agency,” she said.

Her anonymous funding sources give critics fodder to attack her message.

“There are any number of polluter-backed groups in D.C. already trying to prop up Trump's anti-public health agenda, so it's hard to imagine what Pruitt's associates add to the conversation other than a desperate desire to benefit themselves no matter who gets hurt,” said Adam Beitman, a spokesman for the Sierra Club.

You are reading The Energy 202, our must-read tipsheet on energy and the environment.]

President Trump speaks following a tour of an ethanol plant in Council Bluffs, Iowa. (Mandel Ngan / AFP)]

— Corn wars: The Trump administration is weighing whether to make more changes to federalethanolrules, such as limiting waivers for small oil refiners to get an exemption from fuel blending requirements, the Wall Street Journal reports. Although people familiar with the matter say no decisions have been made, the move to consider further changes follows the president’s latest trip to Iowa, the nation’s largest ethanol-producing state. The president’s move to end the summer ethanol ban “has failed to fully satisfy farmers in Iowa and elsewhere who are hoping to sell more corn for ethanol to make up for sales lost to China amid the administration’s continued trade standoff,” the WSJ reports.

https://www.**opensecrets**.org/news/2019/02/epa-official-launches-dark-money-grp-promoting-trump-agenda/

environmental and energy policy is poised to be a hotly contested issue in the leadup to the 2020 election.

One new group that stands to play a key part in that conversation is Energy 45 Fund, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization founded by outgoing senior Trump administration adviser Mandy Gunasekara “to promote the Trump energy agenda” following her resignation from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The source of money fueling the group may remain a mystery. Gunasekara told the Center for Responsive Politics that the group’s funders will be allowed to remain anonymous.

“I will respect their preferences,” Gunasekara said.

Moreover, the “dark money” group’s website was purchased weeks before Gunasekara left the Trump administration, while she was seemingly still on EPA payroll.

In a resignation letter to the White House dated and effective Feb. 7 — the same day House and Senate Democrats floated their “Green New Deal” — Gunasekara formally resigned from her position as principal deputy assistant administrator at the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation then announced plans to launch the group.

Incorporation records confirm that the group was incorporated as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization the day after Gunasekara’s resignation with the stated purpose being “to inform the public about the environmental and economic gains made under the Trump Administration” by “educating policy makers and the general public regarding legislation and other matters of importance to the people and economy of the United States.”

Domain registration records reviewed by CRP reveal that the group’s website was quietly registered to Surya Gunasekara — Mandy Gunasekara’s lobbyist husband, who showed up in lobbying disclosures with the EPA as one of the agencies lobbied shortly after his wife joined the agency — on Jan. 20, weeks before his wife’s resignation.

Mandy Gunasekara told CRP that her husband has no official role in the organization and that his name is listed due to their use of a shared GoDaddy account.

Surya Gunasekara joined Capitol Hill Consulting Group in November 2017 and began lobbying for an energy company called Ameresco during the final quarter of the year.

During the first quarter of 2018 and the final quarter of 2017, he and two other lobbyists at the firm are listed as lobbying the EPA. Issues listed on the firm’s Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) filings include “Energy Savings Performance Contracting; FY19 Appropriations for federal energy programs; Renewable Fuels.”

An initial Q2 lobbying disclosure for 2018 also lists the EPA but an amended Q2 filing for 2018 does not mention the agency.

Mandy Gunasekara has been the Trump administration’s top air and climate adviser at the EPA for the past two years but has her own history in the revolving door, working as Senior Director Legislative Affairs at the National Association of Chemical Distributors before she was hired by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in 2015.

Under then-Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.), she became the committee’s Clean Aire Act and Climate Change counsel. Gunasekara is perhaps best known in D.C. circles for her connection to Inhofe’s highly publicized snowball stunt on the floor of the Senate.

“Continued environmental progress will be borne out of innovation, not oppressive regulations, government take-overs or green new deals,” a page touting “America First Environmentalism” on the website reads, in an apparent jab at House Democrats’ Green New Deal spearheaded by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and released the same day Mandy Gunasekara resigned from the EPA.

On another page titled “Exposing Liberal Energy Fantasies”, the Energy 45 website continues pushing back on the Democrats’ new environmental proposals. “Led by self-avowed socialists, the Democrats have made a leftward lurch so dramatic that it would make Stalin blush. Their policies to combat climate change are nothing but a proxy for draconian government control that prohibits car ownership, kills domestic energy production, and harms low-income communities the most,” the website reads.

Building on her resignation letter’s condemnation that the Paris Climate Accord is one of “many bad deals,” the group’s website touts Gunasekara as the “chief architect” of the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the agreement who “worked to repeal the disastrous Clean Power Plan” and create “opportunities for beautiful clean American coal.”

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news:{/meet-foxs-newest-favorite-climate-misinformer-mandy-gunasekara}:

TED MACDONALD

PUBLISHED 08/19/19

As President Donald Trump’s communication strategy begins to take shape for the 2020 election, his favorite network has been repeatedly booking a former Environmental Protection Agency official to gaslight for the president’s destructive anti-climate and anti-science agenda.

Since February, Mandy Gunasekara has appeared at least 17 times on both Fox News and Fox Businessto talk about her past work with the Trump administration, promote his energy agenda, and criticize the Democratic presidential candidates. She has made numerous appearances on other right-wing outlets as well, including The Daily Caller and Bill Mitchell’s radio program. Gunasekara’s history of working with climate change deniers makes her the perfect right-wing pundit for Trump’s so-called “energy dominance” agenda.

Gunasekara worked at Scott Pruitt’s EPA after cutting her teeth working for infamous climate denier Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK)

From March 2017 through February of this year, Gunasekara was a top cli**mateand air quality adviser at the EPA, where she played a key role in helping the Trump administration undo major environmental regulations. Her organization, Energy45,lists her as “chief architect of the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord” and an orchestrator of the Clean Power Plan repeal. At a 2017 conference, she reportedly told coal company representatives that she was in a position at the EPA to “make a big difference and do things to help out and tear back the problems that stemmed from decisions of the last administration.”

Before joining the EPA, Gunasekara worked on Capitol Hill, where she served as counsel for Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), “the grandfather of climate denial,”handing him the snowball during his infamous climate denial speech in 2015.

Gunasekara currently runs a pro-Trump energy PAC

Gunasekara resigned from the EPA in February to start Energy45, also known as the Energy 45 Fund, adark money PACthat is “dedicated to informing the public about the environmental and economic gains made under the Trump Administration.” The organization’s issues include “Defending the Trump Energy Agenda,” promoting “America First Environmentalism,” and “Exposing Liberal Energy Fantasies.” The description of the last of those issues calls policies to combat climate change “nothing but a proxy for draconian government control” that “would make Stalin blush.”

In addition to her role with the Energy 45 Fund, Gunasekara is also a senior fellow with Life:Powered, a project of the Koch-backed Texas Public Policy Foundation, which generally rejects climate science and has close connections to the Trump administration.

In a June interview with The Washington Post, Gunasekara explained her new role in promoting Trump’s energy agenda:

“I think what Republicans are starting to understand is, weneed to be better about communicating the good work that we're doing,” Gunasekara, the former deputy assistant administrator of the EPA's air office, said in an interview Tuesday.

“I always say, we're right on the policy, we're right on the facts,” she added. “But what we're not great at is conveying that.”

Apparently for Gunasekara, that meanslyingabout energy and climate issues.

Gunasekara has appeared at least two dozen times in right-wing outlets since February

Since starting the Energy45 PAC, Gunasekara has appeared nine times on Fox News and eight times on Fox Business, splitting her time on Fox News betweenTrump’s favorite show, Fox & Friends, and America’s Newsroom, while all of her Fox Business appearances have come on Varney & Co.

She also penned an op-ed for FoxNews.com on February 20 which bashed the Green New Deal as “Karl Marx’s Christmas list” and chastised Democrats for moving “so far to the extreme that eating meat is murder, but killing a baby moments after birth is a choice.” Most recently, she appeared on Fox Nation’s Deep Dive on August 14 to discuss the Green New Deal andTrump’s “energy dominance” agenda.

Gunasekara has also[:](https://youtu.be/VWlvZQ0_CDI): on,a right-wing outlet that has received plaudits from Trump;twice on The Daily Caller platform, on itsand in a video criticizing the Green New Deal; and twice on the radio show of Bill Mitchell, an extreme pro-Trump pundit and ridiculous climate denier who has amplified the QAnon conspiracy theory. She’s also appeared on a conservative Minnesota radio show and has written for Y’all Politics, a conservative news outlet focused on Mississippi politics.

In contrast, she has appeared sparingly in mainstream outlets, including and. In June, she penned an op-ed for USA Today criticizing Joe Biden’s climate plan. That op-ed was then amplified by the official Twitter account of Trump’s election campaign.

Gunasekara has also appeared on Real News Insights, a streaming Facebook show produced by the Trump reelection campaign and hosted by the president’s campaign adviser and daughter-in-law Lara Trump.

She regularly spouts climate denial

Gunasekara has repeatedly questioned the scientific consensus on climate change. In her July 10 appearance on Fox & Friends First, she stated falsely that “there is serious lack of consensus on the issue” and claimed that “climate change is not a crisis”: vid]

That same day on America’s Newsroom, Gunasekaraaccused Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) of using climate change to “manufacture crises” and “divert the American people’s attention away from all the successes of the President Trump administration.” She also stated that climate change is “not a national emergency, it’s not an existential threat -- it’s something that’s always been occurring.”

Appearing in a Real News Insights video posted to Facebook on July 9, she said that Democrats like Ocasio-Cortez “are trying to scare the American people by citing frivolous science in terms of climate change” in order “to make their socialist agenda seem reasonable.”

In her March 29 appearance on The Daily Caller podcast, Gunasekara that the climate is changing but that the important question is “what role are humans actually having.” (Hint: Humans are having an outsized role and are by far the dominant cause of climate change.) In this same interview, she also accused “activist scientists” of writing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report’s Summary for Policymakers and referred to United Nations climate conferences as “somewhat of a religion or somewhat cultish."

In a July interview with Bloomberg Environment, she offered a more nuanced opinion on climate:[PHASE 4 DELAYISM]

“I embrace the consensus that the climate is changing and support continuing to enhance our understanding of humans’ role,” she said. “What I reject are intrusive policies that masquerade as some ‘solution’ to our changing climate where they will have little meaningful impact on the environment, but massive costs to the economy.”

Her views on climate line up well with those of others in the Trump administration, which is rife with climate denial and staffed by fossil fuel industry insiders and shills. It’s no surprise that right-wing media book her to parrot these views to Trump’s supporters.

She repeatedly makes false claims about Trump’s environmental progress

Gunasekara often uses her appearances on the president’s favorite network to boast about the environmental progress made under the Trump administration. Examples include:

-: In her first appearance on America’s Newsroom, Gunasekara attacked the Green New Deal proposal and said the Trump administration had worked instead on “practical solutions to improve the environment.” The same day on Varney & Co., she praised the“extensive environmental progress” of the Trump administration.

February 20: In a FoxNews.com op-ed, she stated that the “U.S. is already the leader on environmental issues in spite of oft-criticized actions like withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord.”

-: She referenced “significant environmental gains” made in the U.S. on an America's Newsroom appearance.

-: Appearing on Fox & Friends First, Gunasekara stated that the “president is setting us up for perpetual success thanks to his economic agenda and environmental dominance that goes alongside a very healthy future when it comes to environmental progress.”

-: Appearing on Varney & Co., she stated that “we are making the economy and the planet much better and it's under president Trump's balanced policies.”

This is extreme gaslighting --Trump’s environmental record is shameful. His administration has rolled back 83 federal regulations aimed at protecting the environment, which will cause great harm to the general public and may put “thousands of lives” at risk. The replacement for the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, the Affordable Clean Energy rule, is estimated to cause up to an additional 1,400 annual premature deaths by 2030, and it may cause polluting coal plants to stay open longer while not doing anything to reverse fortunes for the declining coal industry. Ditto for the administration's vehicle emissions rollback plan, which will likely increase traffic fatalities and lead to more auto pollution.

She makes false claims about clean air records under Trump

Gunasekara also likes to state that the U.S. has the cleanest air on record. Examples include:

:: Appearing on Varney & Co., she stated, “Under President Trump we've not only continued to decrease our greenhouse gas emissions more than any other country, but we have the cleanest air on record.” Later in the interview, she referenced the EPA’s success in reducing criteria pollutants since the 1970s, doubling down on her claim that “we undoubtedly have the cleanest air on record.”}:

-: In another Varney & Co. appearance, she said, “We are already leading the world in terms of clean air, clean water, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

August 2: Appearing on America’s Newsroom, Gunasekara claimed that Trump “has put in place balanced regulations that continue the trajectory of having the cleanest air on record.”

We currently do not have the cleanest air on record; in fact, air quality has worsened since 2016. There has been a 15% increase in the number of high air pollution days since President Barack Obama’s second term. At least one report shows that the U.S. ranks 123rd out of 195 nations for ozone pollution levels. Additionally, at least three toxic “criteria” pollutants are more prevalent in the air now than in 2016, and the number of unhealthy air days in the U.S. has been increasing since Trump took office.

She’s made numerous other inaccurate remarks about environmental issues

In a July 2 Daily Caller video, Gunsekara stated that “some could say we are leading the world in fighting climate change.” This is blatantly false -- the U.S. is actually disproportionately causing climate change, as it is one of the largest carbon emitters in the world on a per capita basis. The emissions reductions that Gunasekara often hypes were largely just a continuation of Obama-era policies. In fact, the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle environmental regulations mean that we may never see very deep cuts in emissions again. Additionally, U.S. emissions shot up in 2018, and the U.S. is nowhere close to being on track to prevent the worst effects of climate change by 2050.

In an America’s Newsroom appearance on March 18, Gunasekara her support for pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord, and accused France of “not even achieving environmental progress.” This accusation is completely baseless, as French emissions actually declined in 2018, unlike in the U.S. France also has a much cleaner energy sector than the U.S.

In her February 20 FoxNews.com op-ed, Gunasekara said the Green New Deal “reads like Karl Marx’s Christmas list,” and she’s attacked the proposal a number of other times as well. On February 8, the day after the Green New Deal was released, she claimed on Varney & Co. that it could cost anywhere from $5 trillion to $7 trillion. These numbers are some of many that have been floating around for the Green New Deal, and they are bogus; in reality, no one knows how much it would cost.

After the Senate vote on the Green New Deal in March, she on Fox & Friends First that “it’s a total embarrassment” that Democrats voted “present” rather than no. What she didn’t mention was that entire vote was really a political stunt orchestrated by Republicans. On this same episode, she said that the Green New Deal is “trying to propose issues that are not popular and wouldn’t work.” The Green New Deal is actually quite popular, and it gets support from environmentalists, labor unions, and even coal miners.

Speaking with Lara Trump on July 2, Gunasekara said Trump ended the Clean Power Plan and the “war on coal,” which she claimed “was a war on communities.” Speaking about former Vice President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign one month later on America’s Newsroom, she declared that “the Obama-Biden legacy was the war on coal.” Republicans have long pushed a mythical war on coal, but in reality, the cheap cost of renewable energy sources and the explosive growth of natural gas production are the causes of the reduced market for coal. Gunasekara also failed to mention the number of coal plant closures under Trump, or the fact that more coal plants were shut down in Trump’s first two years in office than in all of Obama’s first term.

Her proposed climate solutions bash renewables and promote more fossil fuel usage

Gunasekara has often claimed that the U.S is doing a great job in reducing emissions in its fossil energy use, but she changes her tune when it comes to things that will further reduce emissions and make a meaningful impact in the fight against climate change. One example came in a February 18 Varney & Co. segment about local opposition to a solar project in rural Virginia, in which Gunasekara downplayed the environmental benefits of solar power and criticized the project as a case of “political preferences overtaking and ignoring the needs of the community”: [vid]

In reality, the only polling on the project shows overwhelming local support, and research from the Energy & Policy Institute showed that this specific solar project had been infiltrated by climate skeptics and fossil fuel interests who played a role in influencing much of the opposition to the project. Gunasekara also left out the fact that solar power is clearly more environmentally friendly than fossil fuels.

On the March 11 edition of Varney & Co., Gunasekara praised Trump’s decision to cut the budget of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) by 70%, calling its programs “inefficient” and stating that “a lot of this money goes to propping up investment from left-wing donors”:[vid?]

Trump administration’s massive proposed cuts to this office were too much even for congressional Republicans.And contrary to Gunasekara’s claims, the office’s programs are not inefficient; one assessment showed that “an EERE taxpayer investment of $12 billion already has yielded an estimated net economic benefit of more than $230 billion.”

In an America’s Newsroom segment on July 10, Gunasekara praised the EPA’s deregulatory agenda under Trump and propped up the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule as an example of the EPA helping to curb greenhouse gas emissions:

the ACE rule is really just a lifeline to the coal companies that EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler used to support directly as a lobbyist. The rule will also lead to more CO2 emissions, which directly contradicts Gunasekara’s statement.

Gunasekara is nothing more than a propaganda mouthpiece for Trump

Trump knows he has an abysmal record on environmental issues. A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll found that only 29% of Americans approve of Trump’s position on climate change, while 62% disapprove.Additionally, Trump’s own internal polling says that his awful record on environmental issues is a huge obstacle to his reelection.

Who better to gaslight for him than Gunasekara, who’s spent much of her career supporting climate deniers and boosting the fossil fuel industry? In her resignation letter from the EPA, she was clear that she would fight to tell the public about his environmental successes. And she doesn’t plan to stick to just right-wing media; in her recent interview with Bloomberg Environment, she said she plans to “branch out and try connecting with Democratic voters on outlets like MSNBC.” Media outlets must take her claims with a grain of salt and push back vigorously against her attempts to whitewash the Trump administration’s environmental record.

Top EPA advisor leaves to head group lauding Paris exit, panning ...

ThinkProgress-Feb 8, 2019

Gunasekara's new venture, Energy 45 Fund, is based in her home state ... her as orchestrating the Obama-era repeal of the Clean Power Plan (CPP). ... around $20,000 relating to chemical and manufacturing lobbying. ... Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler previously served as a coal lobbyist, and ...

https://thinkprogress.org/top-epa-advisor-leaves-to-start-pro-trump-energy-advocacy-group-19f4686fd493/

An advisor with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who has played a key role in President Donald Trump’s regulation rollbacks is leaving the agency to start an advocacy group to advance the president’s energy agenda.

In a letter sent to the White House Thursday, Mandy Gunasekara formally resigned her current position as principal deputy assistant administrator at the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. That office is headed by Bill Wehrum, a former lobbyist who advocated for rolling back environmental protections prior to his appointment.

Without giving many details, Gunasekara said she would be forming a 501(c)(4) non-profit intended to defend “you [Trump] and the many energy, regulatory and economic successes of your bold and pragmatic agenda.”Her resignation is effective immediately.

Gunasekara’s new venture, Energy 45 Fund, is based in her home state and is headquartered out of Jackson, Mississippi. Listed as the founder and president,Gunasekara’s biography on the organization’s website touts her as the “chief architect” of the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. It also credits her as orchestrating the Obama-era repeal of the Clean Power Plan (CPP),

President Trump’s bold domestic energy dominance agenda has brought both economic prosperity and cleaner air and water,” the website proclaims. “Energy 45 supports and promotes these policies as well as a broader push towards cooperative federalism.”

Pages on the website include “Defending the Trump Energy Agenda,” “Exposing Liberal Energy Fantasies,” “Promoting Positive Environmental Gains,” “Withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord,” and “America First Environmentalism.” Each section includes small paragraphs praising Trump’s energy policies, with some taking aim at Democrats and Obama-era environmental efforts.

Promoting Trump’s “America First” approach to energy innovation, Energy 45 also takes aim at the Green New Deal touted by progressive groups like the Sunrise Movement. It comes at the same time as the release of a resolution on a Green New Deal by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) on Thursday aimed at rapidly decarbonizing the U.S. economy and creating at least hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process.

As the Energy 45 website reads: “America’s environmental achievements have been achieved in large part through private sector innovation leading to technological breakthroughs in energy extraction, development and use.”

“Continued environmental progress will be borne out of innovation, not oppressive regulations, government take-overs or ‘green new deals,'” it adds.

CREDIT: ENERGY45 FUND

Prior to working for Wehrum and the EPA, Gunasekara served as counsel for Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), a conservative who has helped to shape the Trump administration’s energy policy. Inhofe is notably a close personal friend of former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, also from Oklahoma, and has long questioned the established science on global warming.

Under Inhofe, Gunasekara, who holds aJ.D. from the University of Mississippi School of Law,worked on climate and environmental issues extensively. She previously worked as Senior Legislative Counsel for Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH),where she similarly worked on environmental and energy efforts. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Gunasekara’s individual lobbying profile shows around$20,000 relating to chemical and manufacturing lobbying.From 2014 to 2015, she worked for the National Association of Chemical Distributors and was paid to represent the industry.

During her time at the EPA, Gunasekara made headlines after expressing support to coal industry executives. During a meeting in May 2017, the then-EPA staffer told coal company representatives at the Eastern Fuel Buyers Conference that they had the support of the agency meant to oversee environmental protections.

“I’m here to talk to you to make sure what we’re doing in D.C. is beneficial for you,” Gunasekara said.

EPA staffer tells coal industry she’s here for them

In addition to critiquing environmental groups like the Sierra Club at the time, Gunasekara also praised environmental rollbacks orchestrated by the Trump administration. The president has pledged he will revive the dying coal industry and restore jobs, something that has not been reflected in the more than two years since he took office. Coal plants continue to close, even as the EPA works to loosen regulations on the coal industry meant to protect the environment and public health.

“Now I’m at the EPA, I’m in a position where I can make a big difference and do things to help out and tear back the problems that stemmed from decisions of the last administration,” Gunasekara said during the 2017 conference.

Gunasekara is part of a long trend of Trump administration officials moving between the government and the industries agencies like the EPA are meant to regulate. Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler previously served as a coal lobbyist, and while he is arguably the most prominent former lobbyist in the administration, he is far from alone.

Downey Magallanes, the former deputy chief of staff to former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, left the department in August 2018 to work for the oil giant BP. Vincent DeVito, an energy advisor to Zinke, similarly left to join an oil and gas firm working in the Gulf of Mexico.

Numerous figures connected to the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) also dot the administration. That Koch-backed think tank is linked to policies undermining climate science and environmental regulations.

Pruitt, meanwhile, has reportedly been working to set up a coal consulting firm.

Climate science deniers fear the building momentum behind the Green New Deal will force Republicans to introduce their own version of climate action, a so-called “Green New Deal-lite.”

Speaking at a policy forum Wednesday hosted by the Congressional Western Caucus and chaired by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), longtime climate science deniers and opponents of the ambitious climate resolution expressed concerns that calls for climate action will push all politicians to the left.

One of the “dangers” of the Green New Deal, said Myron Ebell, director of global warming and international environmental policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, is that “by expanding the political spectrum of what’s in the debate, it’s moving the debate left and it’s creating a very large space for a certain class of people, many of them in the Republican Party, to start talking about how we need to have moderate solutions, or reasonable solutions.”

The Green New Deal resolution was introduced earlier this month by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA). The plan mandates rapid and widespread decarbonization of the U.S. economy. Calls for climate action have grown since the November midterm elections, but Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal — which has strong support from youth activists — has now forced lawmakers to grapple with climate change as a top political issue.

[vid]

The featured panelists at Wednesday’s forum came from organizations with long histories of spreading misinformation about climate change and working to roll back environmental protections. This included speakers from CEI, the Heritage Foundation, the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), and the American Energy Alliance. All of these organizations have opaque funding networks; donations in the past have come from the fossil fuel industry as well as Koch-funded foundations.

Marc Morano, CFACT’s director of communications, echoed Ebell’s concerns about the effect the Green New Deal might have on the broader landscape of climate politics, saying the resolution has become a “litmus test” for each Democratic presidential hopeful.

Indeed, at least six Democratic presidential hopefuls have voiced support for the proposal, which draws on decades of scientific findings. In particular, the resolution cites a 2018 report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that warns of catastrophic consequences — from mass migrations and deadly heat stress to economic losses — if global temperatures rise past 2ºC above pre-industrial temperatures.

Morano, on the other hand, believes that the increased focus on the Green New Deal “has shifted the Democratic Party into serious, unscientific, nutty territory.”

As a result, he continued, “The greatest danger we face right now with the Green New Deal… is very simply the Republican Party coming up with the Green New Deal-lite.”

“We need to oppose it and oppose it firmly,” Morano said. “We don’t need to come up with the lite version of the plan.”

Disgraced lobbyist joins anti-Green New Deal effort as opposition to resolution takes shape

Among the potential policies panelists mentioned conservatives might propose as alternatives to the Green New Deal: a carbon tax and cap-and-trade policies.

“The only thing the Green New Deal could possible hope to achieve is to lull policy makers into accepting less draconian, but certainly damaging policies, like a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade program as quote, ‘reasonable alternatives,'” said Thomas Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance and a former Koch lobbyist.

Another speaker on the panel was former EPA deputy assistant administrator Mandy Gunasekara. Gunasekararesigned from the EPA just weeks ago to set up the Energy 45 Fund, which aims to promote “America First” policy approaches and educate the public and policymakers on the environmental successes of the Trump administration.

Top EPA advisor leaves to head group lauding Paris exit, panning Green New Deal:

Repeating a popular line of attack from opponents of the Green New Deal, Gunasekara described the resolution as “Karl Marx’s Christmas list.” She then went on to argue that what’s “routinely overlooked is that the entire premise of the the Green New Deal ignores the United States’ current standing and leadership on environmental issues today.”

“Not only are we taking proactive steps to protect the environment and lower emissions,” she said, “we are doing it better than anyone else in the world.”

Gunasekara’s biography on the Energy 45 website, however, touts her as the “chief architect” of the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. It also credits her with orchestrating the repeal of the Obama-era Clean Power Plan. Prior to joining the Trump administration, Gunasekara famously handed a snowball to well-known climate science denier Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) on the Senate floor in 2015 in an effort to disprove the existence of climate change.

E&E

june 2018

bogardis

Recently disclosed records shed more light on EPA's review of agency grants, which number in the billions of dollars.

Internal EPA emails, released to theNatural Resources Defense Councilunder theFreedom of Information Act, offer more details on a grants review managed by John Konkus, a deputy public affairs chief and one of President Trump's political appointees. The documents show the review involved several appointees at times and often flagged EPA funds that were flowing to the Obama administration's allies and priorities, like combating climate change.

Career officials at EPA also pushed back on decisions to pull funding from certain organizations. They also tried to make the case that agency money could be worked into the agenda of President Trump and Administrator Scott Pruitt.

Steven Fine, acting chief information officer at EPA, even used one ofPruitt's buzzwords — "cooperative federalism" — when defending one grant that happened to mention the Clean Power Plan, the Obama-era rule to curb power plants' carbon emissions that Pruitt has sought to roll back.

"The proposed work connects multiple types of information that are not related to CPP but are relevant to the interest of EPA and states," Fine said in one email.

"The work unrelated to CPP is the vast majority of the proposed work and would support Agency and Administration goals related to clean air, clean water reliable energy production, and Cooperative Federalism," Fine added.

Konkus was not convinced by Fine's argument.

"This is not going to be funded and we would kindly ask you to alert the organization in the morning that the award will not be granted," he replied.

But Konkus was later informed that the grant recipient in question had sent in a revised cover letter to better address its work. That sparked a softer response from him.

"FYI this is how most grant discussions end up, the program and grantee work on a solution together to make the grant work better reflect the priorities of the Administration," he said in an email.

Memo now rescinded

The grants review attracted scrutiny after E&E News reported last August that Konkus, a political appointee, was overseeing the process, which had been typically managed by career officials (Greenwire, Aug. 17, 2017).An EPA spokesman told E&E News that the Trump administration wanted to be "good stewards" of taxpayer money.

"EPA awards about $4 billion in grants annually, and the Trump EPA is committed to being good stewards of the taxpayers' huge investment in our agency by reviewing every grant award and solicitation," said the spokesman.

EPA issued a memo on Aug. 8 last year directing its Office of Public Affairs to review and approve all grant solicitations.

EPA's grants process, however, has changed again.

The agency shared with E&E News an email sent last month, which rescinded the Aug. 8 memo. Instead, regional administrators and assistant administrators at EPA now have to approve "solicitation issuance" for grants.

"Now that all of our Regional Administrators and most of our program AAs are in place, we have shifted the responsibility to these leaders to review and manage the grants that flow through their respective offices," said the EPA spokesman.

Konkus' grants review may have begun even before the memo was issued last August. In an email toEPA Chief of Staff Ryan Jackson, the public affairs aide described marking a grant from earlier in the year.

"This response is from July when I first flagged this grant," Konkus said.

Several of the EPA emails show Konkus inquiring for more information about grants. In one, he asked if the agency had "a position on human testing."

"See this proposed grant," Konkus said.

In other messages, he prodded EPA to release funds to those who needed it most.

"There are a lot of Puerto Rico grants in these files. I would love to get that money out to them!" Konkus said in one email sent last September after Hurricane Maria had devastated the U.S. island territory.

Other Trump political appointees were asked to help with the grants review at EPA. Jackson said in an email, "I could use your help with grant solicitations," with several appointees copied on the message.

"These need to be reviewed by OPA (John Konkus) before they go live," Jackson said.

In replying to Jackson, Konkus noted that EPA program offices were using guidance that included "a reliance on the 2014-2018 strategic plan which was implemented by the past administration."

Konkus sought other appointees' advice, as well.

"These seem fine to me," Nancy Beck, the deputy assistant administrator in EPA's chemicals office, said in an email to Konkus, who also asked her to review a pesticide cooperative agreement.

"No concerns from my end," said Mandy Gunasekara, a senior EPA adviser on air issues, when asked about certain grants in another email to Konkus.

'No to this please'

Konkus flagged several grants that included climate change in their descriptions or linked to environmental organizations. He even recommended some to be pulled back.

In one list, he noted a grant obligated toNRDCto perform energy efficiency work, saying he and Gunasekara would "need a briefing on this one." The green group has been a staunch critic of the Trump administration.

Konkus also said, "No to this please," on a grant for climate change research.

Other grants for an integrated assessment of greenhouse gasesas well as a study on air pollution meteorology andparticulate matter also received a "No to this one please" message from Konkus.

It's not clear from the email if their EPA funding was withdrawn in the end. At least one group has confirmed that its agency grant was rescinded.

The Global Alliance forClean Cookstoves, a public-private partnership launched in 2010 by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, aims to reduce indoor air pollution. Its EPA grant would have been spent on a project intended in part to develop "an integrated and robust communications and outreach program," accompanied by biogas promotion activities, according to an EPA summary.

"This grant should NOT move forward. Thank you," Konkus said in one email about the project.

The actual amount of the rescinded grant is not clear. Kip Patrick, an Alliance spokesman, referred questions this morning to a statement issued last August by the organization expressing surprise at EPA's decision to rescind the money.

"EPA's previous support of clean cooking has provided a model of how the U.S. can lead on innovative solutions to global issues in ways that have bipartisan support, that benefit Americans directly, and that help drive increased investment from the private sector and other partners," the statement said.

In recent years, the Alliance, hosted by the U.N. Foundation, had received a total of $1.4 million in EPA money, along with more than $70 million in funding from other governments and the private sector, according to the statement.

Winrock International, based in Little Rock, Ark., takes its name from the late Winthrop Rockefeller, a Republican who served as Arkansas' governor from 1967 to 1971. The nonprofit group's EPA grant was also geared to reducing indoor air pollution, according to the agency.

"This grant should not move forward," Konkus said in an email about the funds.

A Winrock spokesman did not immediately reply to emailed queries this morning to confirm the actual dollar amount of the grant and whether the funding was in fact withdrawn.

When EPA funding was pulled from a group's grant, Konkus recommended that "a courtesy email or call" be made to them.

"It does not have to be complicated, just a courtesy so that they hear from us first," he said in an email.

Konkus did not respond this morning to a message left on his cellphone by E&E News seeking more information on his reasons for flagging the grants.

Twitter: @KevinBogardus Email: kbogardus@eenews.net

The Trump administration has recruited officials to fill its top energy and environmental staff positions from fossil fuel lobbying groups, Koch brothers-funded think tanks, and climate-denying lawmakers’ offices, according to a new database from the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Launched Monday, the project tracks political appointments to energy and environment positions and their past affiliations. Of the more than 100 political staff working on energy and environmental issues, close to one-third have ties to the fossil fuel industry and petrochemical billionaires Charles and David Koch, according to the tracker.

Their industry ties often put them at odds with the stated missions of their agencies, especially for appointees working to address air and water pollution and protect federal lands, raising questions about the policy goals of their bosses?—?Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt.

Influx of anti-regulation political appointees turns EPA’s mission on its head

Trump’s EPA viewed as most anti-environment in a generation.

“These staffers are tasked with making decisions about the air we breathe and water we drink, yet many of them have worked for industries and organizations that have been fighting for years to undo environmental protections and prolong the life of dirty energy,” Erin Auel, research associate for the Center for American Progress Action Fund, said in a statement. ThinkProgress is an editorially independent news site housed within the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

The website, DirtyDeputies.org, will maintain a running list of political appointees for energy and environment and their previous employers. It will allow users to sort the political appointees by their special interest affiliations. The public is invited to submit tips on any of the appointees or new staff who have been hired.

“It’s not surprising that the Trump administration is the next stop on the career paths of old hands in the big oil, Koch, and climate denial networks,” Kevin Connor, director of the Public Accountability Initiative, a nonprofit group that researches business and government corruption, said in an email to ThinkProgress. “This kind of capture of the federal regulatory apparatus is something they’ve been preparing for, and something that will have real consequences for public health and the environment, as we’ve seen play out on the state level.”

“This kind of capture of the federal regulatory apparatus… will have real consequences.”

Given the backgrounds of the officials filling these high-level positions, “we should be prepared for them to be particularly extreme in their abdication of responsibility to the public, in favor of their masters in polluting industries,” Connor warned.

David Bernhardt, one of political appointees listed in the Dirty Deputies tracker, is awaiting confirmation by the full Senate to become the second-highest ranking official at the Department of the Interior. Bernhardt, who runs the natural resources department at lobbying and law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, has spent the last several years working on behalf of oil and gas companies and large agribusiness to weaken environmental protections.

“A vote for Bernhardt is a vote for the Koch brothers and big industry and a vote against public lands, people and health,” Randi Spivak, public lands program director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.

Doug Matheney now works as a top assistant to Perry after previously serving as the state coordinator for the Count on Coal initiative. He also worked as a coordinator for the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity.

The database also lists Mandy Gunasekara, who joined Pruitt’s staff at the EPA in March as a top adviser. Gunasekara worked as the National Association of Chemical Distributors’ senior director of legislative affairs where she lobbied for reforming the Toxic Substances Control Act. She also previously worked as a staffer for Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK),a position in which she handed a snowball to Inhofe on the Senate floor.The Republican senator argued the existence of the snowball in winter disproved global warming.

Matt Kasper, research director at the Energy & Policy Institute, emphasized that the Trump administration’s appointed staffers now represent the mainstream of Republican ideology. “The Republican Party has adopted positions that deny the science behind climate change, wants to gut the EPA in order to prevent it from carrying out its mission, and prevent further air and water safeguards,” Kasper told ThinkProgress.

According to the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the tracker will help increase transparency of the political appointees who are “pulling the strings on Trump’s dirty energy agenda.”

desmog

Life:Powered

Background

Life:Powered (LifePowered.org) is a project of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) designed to “ensure that Americans continue to benefit from abundant, reliable, safe, and clean energy” and to “reframe the discussion about energy sources” including fossil fuels. [1]

In February 2018, TPPF brought onBernard McNamee to lead the Life:Powered project and also to head TPPF’s Center for Tenth Amendment Action. According to its 2017 annual report, Life:Powered was originally TPPF’s “Fueling Freedom” project, which launched in 2015 “to combat the Obama-era Clean Power Plan.” [2], [3]

McNamee most recently worked as deputy general counsel for energy policy under Secretary Rick Perry at the Department of Energy and has also advised Texas senator Ted Cruz. [2]

“In 2018, we’ll be taking the project to a new level, expanding it to cover every aspect of the policies that promote abundant, reliable, and affordable energy to power modern life,” the report’s message from the President and the Chair noted. [3]

TPPF’sKathleen Hartnett-White was director of the Fueling Freedom project and co-authored the same-titled book with Heritage Foundationeconomist Stephen Moore. White is a senior fellow of the Life:Powered project. [4]

Stance on Climate Change

May 4, 2018

Life:Powered promotes articles critical of a carbon tax as a solution to climate change, generally linking to research done by TPPF. One example is an article by Vance Ginn that links to research byJohn Cristyto suggest “there’s little conclusive evidence to prove that carbon dioxide emissions cause environmental harm.” [5]

The Life:Powered article concludes: [5]

“Finally, perhaps most importantly, there is little to no evidence that there is a need to reduce carbon emissions in this country. For all of these reasons, and many more, the proposed carbon tax should be whole-heartedly rejected.”

2018

“Human flourishing depends on energy use, often in invisible and unnoticed ways. A reliable energy supply can feed the hungry, take care of the sick, and ensure a prosperous economic future for society. It promotes freedom and independence around the world and right here at home,” the Life:Powered websitereads. [6]

The Texas Public Policy Foundation features a“Life:Powered”playlist in its YouTube channel that promotes “The Moral Case For Fossil Fuels” by Alex Epstein, as well as a panel presentation by the CO2 Coalition promoting the supposed benefits of boosting atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. View the playlist below:..[vid] docs]

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The following funding values are for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the parent organization of Life:Powered.

View the attached spreadsheet for more details on the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s funding by year (.xlsx). [7]

Donor and Year Total

Pew Charitable Trusts $5,488,454

Donors Capital Fund $3,530,848

DonorsTrust $1,369,616

Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation $1,137,624

Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation $980,000

Searle Freedom Trust $645,000

Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation $548,500

Jaquelin Hume Foundation $490,001

State Policy Network $378,900

The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation $315,000

The Roe Foundation $287,000

The Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation $275,000

Armstrong Foundation $160,000

Castle RockFoundation $125,000

William H. Donner Foundation $110,000

JM Foundation $105,000

Cato Institute $100,000

Exxon Mobil $100,000

Heartland Institute $100,000

Friedman Foundation For Educational Choice $62,000

Charles Koch Institute $47,623

The Robertson-Finley Foundation $42,500

PhRMA $35,000

National Christian Charitable Foundation $27,500

Walton FamilyFoundation $25,000

Americans for Tax Reform Foundation $25,000

The Vernon K. Krieble Foundation $11,000

Atlas Economic Research Foundation $9,500

Grand Total $16,531,066

990 Forms]

key People

Michael Nasi — Reportedly heading the Life-Powered effort, as of August 2018.[8]

Michael Nasiis General Counsel of Balanced Energy for Texas, a “coalition of energy consumers, producers, and providers” that includes major coal and energy companies, related advocacy groups, and groups supplying the energy industry such as the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), American Electric Power, Arch Coal, Peabody Energy, andUnion Pacific Railroad. [9]

When President Donald Trump issued an executive order to revise or rescind the Clean Power Plan, Nasi described itas “a crucial win for Texas and the nation.” He is also a partner of the law firm Jackson Walker LLP where he founded the firm’s “Climate Change and Carbon Management group.” [10], [11]

Jason Isaac — Senior Manager and Distinguished Fellow of Life:Powered as of April 2019

Former State Representative for Hays and Blanco counties in the Texas Hill Country. According to SourceWatch, Isaac received $2,000 fromKochPACto his Jason Isaac Campaign in 2018.[20]

Bernard McNamee — Initially listed as project lead until moving to a position at DOE. [2]

Bernard L. McNamee was initially listed as project lead for the Life:Powered project in February 2018, however according to his LinkedIn he left that position in May 2018 to become Executive Director at the Office of Policy for the Department of Energy (DOE). McNamee worked for the DOE as Deputy General Counsel for Energy Policy since May 2017, and as Senior Counsel to the law firm McGuireWoods LLP before that. [12]

Kathleen Hartnett-White —Senior Fellow,**Life:Powered

Kathleen Hartnett-White is the distinguished senior fellow-in-residence and director of the Armstrong Center for Energy & the Environment at the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF). Hartnett White previously worked as Chairman and Commissioner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Prior to 2001, she served as then-Governor George W. Bush’s appointee to the Texas Water Development Board, where she sat until appointed to TCEQ. [13]

Hartnett-White was nominated by President Donald Trump in 2017to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), and also served on Trump’s “economic advisory team” in 2016. White’s nomination was withdrawn after it was sent back to the White House at the end of 2017. [14], [15], [16]

Jacki Pick — Senior Fellow, Life:Powered

Jacki Pickformerly served as the executive vice president and CEO of the:{National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), a corporate-funded group that has promoted supposed uncertainties around climate science. She also hosts The Jacki Daily Show at TheBlaze.com.[:(style="background-color:#ffff66ff"):}:17 ]

Mandy Gunasekara — Senior Fellow, Life:Powered [28]

Gunasekara is a Republican “climate and energy strategist” and the founder of the “pro-Trump nonprofit” Energy 45 Fund. As of February 2020, Gunasekara was reportedly set to return as the EPA‘s chief of staff accordig to The Washington Post. [24], [25]

She is a a memberof the CO2 Coalition, a group directed by climate change denier William Happer that portrays carbon dioxide as “a nutrient vital for life” and advocates for more of it in the atmosphere. Her CO2 Coalition profile describes Gunasekara as “the chief architect of the Paris Accord withdrawal and the repeal of the Clean Power Plan” while working for Trump at the EPA as principal deputy assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation. [26], [27]

Other People

As of August 2018, TPPF was actively hiring for positions including “Project Coordinator” and “Policy Analyst” for the Life:Powered project. [18]

Actions

April 6, 2020

Life:Powered, represented by Jason Isaac, was signatory to an American Energy Alliance letter to President Donald Trump supporting the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule which would scrap federal fuel economy mandates under the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program. [31]

Describing CAFE, the letter contends: “Those families and individuals who prefer or need trucks, SUVs, and crossovers pay more to subsidize those who buy smaller vehicles or electric vehicles under the existing mandate. This significant, needless, and unjust cost is a very real regressive tax on American families that has made our country worse off.” [31]

March 23, 2020

As reported at DeSmog, Life:Powered sent a letter to Congresscritical of the COVID-19 stimulus package for including “tax incentives and spending for unreliable ‘green’ energy

programs.” [29], [30]

The letter concludes:

“This is no time for political games. Climate change is not an immediate threat to humanity. Climate-related deaths have declined 98.9% in the last century, and humanity is growing more and more resilient thanks to the availability of affordable, reliable energy. On behalf of all Americans, we urge you to oppose any stimulus proposals that carve out special treatment for or bail out any energy companies and focus instead on stopping COVID-19.” [30]

Signatories included: [30]

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Name Title Organization STINKTANKS

Jason Isaac Senior Manager & Distinguished Fellow Life:Powered/Texas Public Policy Foundation

Myron Ebell Director, Center for Energy and Environment Competitive Enterprise Institute

Bette Grande CEO Roughrider Policy Center

Ellen Weaver President & CEO Palmetto Promise Institute

Isaac Orr Policy Fellow Center of the American Experiment

Bethany Marcum Executive Director Alaska Policy Forum

David T. Stevenson Director, Center for Energy and Environment Caesar Rodney Institute

Donald van der Vaart Senior Fellow John Locke Foundation

Jason Hayes Director of Environmental Policy Mackinac Center for Public Policy

John Droz, Jr. Founder Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions

George K. Rasley, Jr. Managing Editor ConservativeHQ.com

Becky Norton Dunlop Former Secretary of Natural Resources Commonwealth of Virginia

James L. Martin Founder/Chairman 60 Plus Association

Saulius “Saul” Anuzis President 60 Plus Association

Ken Blackwell Senior Fellow Family Research Council

Eunie Smith President Eagle Forum

Jenny Beth Martin Honorary Chairman Tea Party Patriots Action

Jon Caldara President Independence Institute

L. Brent Bozell, III Founder and President Media Research Center

Jason Pye Vice President of Legislative Affairs FreedomWorks

Jameson Taylor Vice President for Policy Mississippi Center for Public Policy

Carol Platt Liebau President Yankee Institute

Mike Stenhouse CEO Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity

Daniel Erspamer CEO Pelican Institute for Public Policy

Christian N. Braunlich President Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy

Todd Myers Environmental Director Washington Policy Center

june 14, 2019

Speaking to the American-Statesman, senior manager Jason Isaac said that the mission of Life:Powered was to “raise America’s energy IQ,” adding: [22]

“We’re making the connection between prosperity we enjoy here in the United States and access to energy in all forms, all abundant, affordable reliable, all forms and all of the above.” [22]

A 2018 TPPF video promoting the continued operation of a coal-fired power plant on the Arizona Navajo reservation has been rebranded with the Life:Powered name. The video showed images of smokestacks with a voiceover by a young Navajo girl saying, “Papa says it’s the heart of the land. I can hear it beating.”:{ [22:(style="background-color:#ff9966ff"):}:]

The video’s closing text reads:

“Extreme environmentalist politics will eliminate jobs, destroy families, and spike electric bills in the Navajo Nation and across America. The Navajo don’t need to be told what to do. They’ve been protecting the environment for centuries.” [22 [vid]

Local environmental groups responded with claims that the plant’s consumption of billions of gallons of groundwater has led to contamination and depletion of the reservation’s water supply. The executive director of a Navajo non-profit organization told the Statesman: [22]

“The pro-coal supporters have made it all about jobs. There’s more to it than that. What’s happening on Black Mesashows that jobs and revenues is not all that it’s made out to be. When you lose your own potable water source, that’s life or death right there.” [22]

Peabody Energy, a TPPF donor, operates the Navajo Generating Station, which will be shuttered at the end of 2019. [22]

Another TPPF } on the topic of “Energy Poverty” featured Caleb Rossiter of the :{CO2}: Foundation :{:{promoting wider adoption of fossil fuel-generated electricity in the developing world. }:[22]

Life:Powered plans to target future messaging in New Mexico, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, and Alaska in opposition to renewable energy and carbon reduction initiatives. [22]

February 8, 2019

Life:Powered posted a critique of the Green New Dealon its website, written by The:{Honorable Jason Isaac,}: describing it as a “massive new tax” and claiming the threats to the planet of continued fossil fuel use have “no scientific evidence to back it up.” [21]

“… if U.S. emissions were completely eliminated by 2020, global temperatures would only be 0.077°C lower in 2050. That doesn’t exactly do much to prevent the End of Days in the next 12 years,” the article claims. “Here is something a little closer to scientific certainty: we are not going to figure out how to generate all the power we need and use in America from wind and solar in the next decade. We’re not even going to get close.” [21]

In conclusion: “Rep. Ocasio-Cortez predicts catastrophe in 12 years if we do nothing to fight climate change. The real catastrophe would be enacting her plan to do that.” [21]

August 7, 2018

S&P Global reportedthat Life:Powered screened two videos at the American Coal Council’s Coal Market Strategies conference in New Mexico that would be part of an upcoming campaign. [8]

Michael Nasi, who is reportedly leading the effort, said the videos “aim to educate an ‘extremely under-informed’ public on fossil fuels.” [8]

“We have failed as both a coal industry, a power industry and obviously other fossil industries and the nuclear industry because we have failed to get together to message together,” said Nasi. [8]

Also speaking at the conference, Luke Popovich, former spokesman for the National Mining Association, discussed industry tactics with regards to climate change: [8]

“It’s too late for denial when your customers, the ratepayers, the banks, and regulators already believe climate change is real,” Popovich said. “Accepting that climate change is real merely opens the discussion with the public.”

Rather, a message on how fossil fuels could be a “humanitarian tool”— so-called “energy poverty” has long been a talking point of industry — would be a primary focus of the Life:Powered videos. [8]

“Over 1 billion people do not have any electricity,” retired Penn State University Professor Frank Clemente said in one of the videos. “That’s only the tip of the iceberg. About 2.5 billion people only have limited access to electric power. You’re closing on almost half of the population of the world are living in energy poverty and that’s why I say it is the leading problem facing mankind today.” [8] Clemente has regularly consulted for the energy industry, and has said he has “written, spoken and testified quite a bit on coal’s importance to the quality of life around the world.”

Related Organizations

Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) — Life:Powered describes itself as a project of TPPF. [1]
Fueling Freedom — According to TPPF’s 2017 annual report, Life:Powered was formerly the Fueling Freedom project. [3]

Contact & Address

The Life:Powered project shares the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s address. As per the project’s Privacy Policy Page: [19]

https://www.texaspolicy.com/

901 Congress Avenue

Austin, Texas 78701

United States

comms@texaspolicy.com

512) 472-2700

Social Media

TPPF promotes Life Powered by the #lifepowered hash tag on Twitter.
Life Powered links to TPPF’s Facebook page @TexasPolicy.

Resources

duck 1 22

Life:Powered - DeSmog

https://www.desmog.com › life-powered

Mandy Gunasekara — Senior Fellow, Life:Powered Gunasekara is a Republican " climate and energy strategist " and the founder of the "pro-Trump nonprofit" Energy 45 Fund. As of February 2020, Gunasekara was reportedly set to return as the EPA 's chief of staff accordig to The Washington Post .

:{PDF:(style="background-color:#d0d0d0ff"):}: Mandy Gunasekara - desmog.com

https://www.desmog.com › wp-content › uploads › files › Mandy Gunasekara LinkedIn.pdf

Mandy Gunasekara Majority Counsel, US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works • University of Mississippi School of Law Washington, District Of Columbia • 500+ Send InMail Connect / S " * & O # I / & " " / B.

'The Empowerment Alliance' and Other New Dark ... - DeSmog

https://www.desmog.com › 2019 › 10 › 22 › empowerment-alliance-dark-money-natural-gas-industry

Gunasekara, who was the aide that handed a snowball to Sen. James Inhofe during his infamous climate science denial speech on the Senate floor, claimed that climate proposals like the Green New Deal or carbon pricing are "premised on making energy more expensive."

Congressional Energy and Climate Committees Are ... - DeSmog

https://www.desmog.com › 2017 › 03 › 08 › congress-energy-climate-committees-ex-lobbyists

Gunasekara's co-counsel for the committee, ... Steve Horn is a former Research Fellow and writer for DeSmog and a freelance investigative journalist based in San Diego, CA. He currently works as a climate reporter and producer for The Real News Network. Related Posts.

CO2 Coalition - DeSmog

https://www.desmog.com › co2-coalition

CO2 Coalition Background The CO2 Coalition was established in 2015 from the remains of the now-defunct George C. Marshall Institute (GMI) and registered as a 501(c)(3) organization for the purpose of "educating thought leaders, policy makers, and the public about the important contribution made by carbon dioxide and fossil fuels to our lives and the economy." [1], [2] The GMI shut down […]

'The empowerment alliance' and other new dark money groups ...

https://www.nationofchange.org › 2019 › 10 › 24 › the-empowerment-alliance-and-other-new-dark-money-groups-sound-a-lot-like-the-natural-gas-industry

SOURCE Desmog Blog. Share on Facebook. ... Gunasekara, who was the aide that handed a snowball to Sen. James Inhofe during his infamous climate science denial speech on the Senate floor, claimed that climate proposals like the Green New Deal or carbon pricing are "premised on making energy more expensive."

As New York Takes Exxon to Court, Big Oil's ... - DeSmog

https://www.desmog.com › 2019 › 11 › 08 › new-york-exxon-trial-tillerson-oil-climate-lawsuits

By Dan Zegart. Last week, in a historic first, the former CEO of a major oil company took the witness stand in a New York City courtroom and spent four hours defending his company against charges that it misled investors about the potential impact of global warming on its viability as a business.. Rex Tillerson, who led ExxonMobil from 2006 until the end of 2016 when he became U.S. secretary ...

Independent Women's Forum - DeSmog

https://www.desmog.com › independent-women-s-forum

Independent Women's Forum (IWF)Background. The Independent Women's Forum (IWF) is a 501(c)(3) think tank that has described itself as a "research and education institute."While IWF has identified itself as non partisan and neutral group, both IWF and its 501(c)(4) "sister organization" the Independent Women's Voice (IWV) have been identified as "anything but" according to ...

James Inhofe - DeSmog

https://www.desmog.com › james-inhofe

James M. Inhofe Credentials BA, Economics, University of Tulsa, 1973. [1], [2] Background Senator James (Jim) Inhofe is the senior senator from Oklahoma and a member of the Republican Party. He is a ranking majority member and former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. [63], [3] According to OpenSecrets.org, Inhofe has received almost $2 […]

mandy G bak

This site is produced by Court Accountability Action (CAA) to expose and counter Project 2025, the playbook of the Heritage Foundation and its right-wing counterparts. This site includes research and analysis from CAA, State Democracy Defenders Action, and American Oversight Inc.

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History

2006 - 2018

2019 - present

Recognition

Related Stories

Gunasekara worked at Scott Pruitt’s EPA after cutting her teeth working for infamous climate denier Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK)

Gunasekara currently runs a pro-Trump energy PAC

Gunasekara has appeared at least two dozen times in right-wing outlets since February

She regularly spouts climate denial

She repeatedly makes false claims about Trump’s environmental progress

She makes false claims about clean air records under Trump

She’s made numerous other inaccurate remarks about environmental issues

Her proposed climate solutions bash renewables and promote more fossil fuel usage

Gunasekara is nothing more than a propaganda mouthpiece for Trump

Disgraced lobbyist joins anti-Green New Deal effort as opposition to resolution takes shape

Top EPA advisor leaves to head group lauding Paris exit, panning Green New Deal:

Memo now rescinded

'No to this please'

Life:Powered

Background

Stance on Climate Change

key People

Other People

Actions

Related Organizations

Contact & Address

Social Media

Resources

:{PDF:(style="background-color:#d0d0d0ff"):}: Mandy Gunasekara - desmog.com