President Bush’s recent designation, and subsequent nomination, of F. Chase Hutto III as acting Assistant Secretary for International Affairs and Domestic Policy of the Department of Energy (DOE) is starting to raise some eyebrows. According to a letter written by Senators Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):

…while the American people are looking for leadership on renewable energy and global warming, they would instead get someone committed to partisan politics and more of the status quo failed energy policies.

The DOE website says the assistant secretary serves as “primary advisor to the Secretary and the Department on energy and technology policy development,” oversees policy analysis, and leads the DOE’s international activities.

Accordingly, they characterize his appointment as “simply an unacceptable candidate to lead the Department of Energy’s international energy initiatives.

As Cheney’s senior aide for domestic policy, Hutto was involved in discussions surrounding the Clean Air Mercury Rule (ultimately overturned by the DC Court of Appeals in February), which the senators characterize as questioning the need for the EPA to limit mercury emissions from power plants.

The Washington Post writes of Hutto:

F. Chase Hutto III has played a prominent behind-the-scenes role in shaping the administration’s environmental policies for several years, the officials said, helping to rewrite rules affecting the air that Americans breathe and the waters that oil tankers traverse. In every instance, according to both his allies and opponents, he has challenged proposals that would place additional regulations on industry.

The question that remains, of course, is whether Mr. Hutto will stay on as Assistant Secretary with a new administration, and if so, for how long?

Image Credit: Joe Mohr