Gov. Mike Dunleavy will not be the next Secretary of Energy, according to his spokesperson Jeff Turner.
Current Secretary of Energy Rick Perry announced that he would resign his position before the end of the year, and there were rumors that Dunleavy was on the shortlist for the position, according to The Associated Press. But Friday afternoon CNN reported that Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette would replace Perry.
In an email Thursday evening Dunleavy Spokesperson Jeff Turner said, “there is no truth to that rumor” when asked if Dunleavy was being considered for the job. The Empire sent additional emails asking if Dunleavy would resign the governorship if appointed or whether the issue came up when he met with President Trump over the summer, but has yet to receive a reply.
Dunleavy met Trump in June, a meeting that’s resulted in moves to open Alaska’s old-growth forests to the timber industry for development. According to the AP, Trump denied that he was looking at either Dunleavy or Texas Gov. Greg Abbot for the position of SoE though “they would both be very good,” Trump said.
The SoE is responsible for issues with energy production, regulation and radioactive waste disposal, including America’s nuclear deterrent — its land and naval based nuclear warheads, according to the DoE’s website. The DoE grew out of the Manhattan Project, the program that led to the development and use of nuclear weapons in WWII. The DoE contracted out work to commercial nuclear energy corporations to generate the material used in the United States’ nuclear arsenal and the Navy’s nuclear reactors.
According to their website, the DoE has occupied itself since the end of the Cold War by cleaning up nuclear testing sites, and enhancing strategic security from other nuclear powers through defense and nonproliferation efforts.
• Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@juneauempire.com, and Peter Segall at 907-523-2228 or psegall@juneauempire.com.
