WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senator Tom Udall issued the following statement on President-elect Trump's decision to nominate former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to be Secretary of Energy:
"I'm disappointed but not surprised that President-elect Trump intends to nominate as Secretary of Energy someone who once said he wants to eliminate the very agency he has been tapped to lead. Governor Perry's past comments show a lack of seriousness about the department's full mission, and I will be listening very closely to his current views on this matter. The majority of the Department of Energy's annual budget goes to its solemn and critical responsibilities regarding our nation's nuclear security. New Mexico's Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories are crown jewels of our nuclear security complex, and along with other key facilities across the country, keep our nation's arsenal safe, secure, and reliable, and monitor nuclear proliferation here and around the world. New Mexico is also home to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the nation's only deep geologic facility that disposes of weapons-related nuclear waste, which is closed due to a radiological accident and still faces a difficult road to recovery. To win the confidence of the American people and the Senate, Governor Perry will need to demonstrate a strong understanding of these complex challenges and lay out a management vision to execute the difficult tasks before the department.
"Finally, President-elect Trump and Governor Perry need to assure DOE's talented team of scientific, engineering and policy civil servants that their past work on climate change or any other issue will not make them a target for political persecution."
