• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
Is Equinor’s Bay du Nord ‘Delay’ a Cancellation in Slow Motion? June 1, 2023
Analyst Sees Oil and Gas Running Short of Cash as IEA Releases Energy Investment Update May 30, 2023
House of Commons Motion, Senate Bill Urge New Climate Rules for Financial Institutions May 30, 2023
13 Canadian Fossils Linked to Massive Losses in Western Wildfires May 30, 2023
Hamilton Plans Heat Bylaw for Rental Housing May 30, 2023
Next
Prev

Tillerson Now a Lock for Secretary of State as McCain, Graham, Rubio Fold

January 25, 2017
Reading time: 2 minutes

Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia Commons

 
Wikimedia Commonsiller

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as America’s chief diplomat by a single vote on Monday, after three Republicans who had been bruited as possible dissenters fell into line with President Donald Trump’s nomination.

The 11-10 vote on party lines will send Tillerson’s nomination for Secretary of State to the floor of the Senate, where the Republican majority is expected to easily confirm it.

  • Be among the first to read The Energy Mix Weekender
  • A brand new weekly digest containing exclusive and essential climate stories from around the world.
  • The Weekender:The climate news you need.
Subscribe

Florida Senator Marco Rubio—a former Trump challenger for the Republican presidential nomination—was the last committee member to fold, among three who had expressed doubts about Tillerson’s suitability. He joined Arizona Senator (and former GOP presidential nominee) John McCain, and South Carolina’s Lindsay Graham, who had overcome their previously-expressed concerns over Tillerson’s deep ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his former company’s $500-billion development deal in that country, which had been stalled by sanctions put in place by the Obama administration.

In a round-up of Tillerson’s testimony to the committee, Politico reports that the lifelong Exxon employee said he planned to order the State Department to “conduct a review of [its] current role” in climate diplomacy. While Tillerson “agreed [that] increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere were a factor in rising temperatures around the world, [he] said the scientific record did not show they were the ‘key’ factor,” a view counter to the overwhelming consensus among actual scientists.

Tillerson hedged on whether he would continue to include renewable energy as a component in U.S. foreign aid, hinting—falsely—that it was too expensive. “If I am confirmed,” Tillerson said, “I will remain mindful that foreign aid is funded with taxpayer dollars, and will seek to ensure that those dollars are used as effectively and efficiently as possible. Renewable energy technologies may be a viable form of aid, assuming they are sufficiently economic to deploy.” In fact, globally as well as in the United States, solar and wind power increasingly beat the products of Tillerson’s former company on price.

Tillerson’s old employer also stands to lose billions of dollars if the combination of climate stabilization policies and raw cost competition from renewable energy results in large portions of its petroleum reserves becoming stranded in the ground.

Tillerson also took the opportunity to reject what might have been an easy olive branch to the majority of Americans who say in surveys that they are worried by climate change and want the United States to lead the global response. The recent petro-baron refused to commit to a global agreement, drafted in October, to phase out the use of hydroflourocarbons. The Kigali Amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol would take the equivalent of 80 billion tons (80 gigatons) of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere over the next 35 years, and reduce expected global warming by 0.5ºC.

Carroll Muffett, president of the Center for International Environmental Law, had earlier described Tillerson’s nomination as “unconscionable, irresponsible, and potentially catastrophic.”



in Climate & Society, Climate Denial & Greenwashing, Energy Politics, Fossil Fuels, Jurisdictions, Legal & Regulatory, Oil & Gas, United States

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Equinor
Oil & Gas

Is Equinor’s Bay du Nord ‘Delay’ a Cancellation in Slow Motion?

June 1, 2023
382
Ottawa Renewable Energy Co-op/Facebook
Climate Action / "Blockadia"

‘Hinge Moment’ for Humanity Demands ‘YIMBY’ Mentality: McKibben

June 1, 2023
25
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Notley
Energy Politics

Notley Would Have Backed Carbon Capture Subsidies, Smith Less Certain: Ex-Pipeline Exec

June 1, 2023
62

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Equinor

Is Equinor’s Bay du Nord ‘Delay’ a Cancellation in Slow Motion?

June 1, 2023
382
Neal Alderson/Twitter

Out-of-Control Wildfire Burns Homes, Forces Evacuations Outside Halifax

May 29, 2023
2.5k
/Piqusels

Analyst Sees Oil and Gas Running Short of Cash as IEA Releases Energy Investment Update

May 31, 2023
548
York Region/flickr

Hamilton Plans Heat Bylaw for Rental Housing

May 31, 2023
460
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Notley

Notley Would Have Backed Carbon Capture Subsidies, Smith Less Certain: Ex-Pipeline Exec

June 1, 2023
62
Ryan Turnbull/Facebook

House of Commons Motion, Senate Bill Urge New Climate Rules for Financial Institutions

May 30, 2023
205

Recent Posts

Ottawa Renewable Energy Co-op/Facebook

‘Hinge Moment’ for Humanity Demands ‘YIMBY’ Mentality: McKibben

June 1, 2023
25
Equinor

Equinor Delays Bay du Nord Offshore Oil Project, Blames ‘Volatile’ Markets

May 31, 2023
102
David Dodge, Green Energy Futures/flickr

Clean Energy to Add 700,000 New Jobs by 2050, with Alberta in the Lead

May 30, 2023
189
Martin Davis/Facebook

13 Canadian Fossils Linked to Massive Losses in Western Wildfires

May 30, 2023
585
David/flickr

Supreme Court Decision Undercuts U.S. Clean Water Act

May 30, 2023
78
Nicolas Rénac/Flickr

Climate Change to Cut Coffee Growing Lands by Over 50%

May 30, 2023
75
Next Post

Dramatic acceleration in loss of wild forest

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}