This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The former Texas governor Rick Perry, who could not remember the name of the Department of Energy when listing those he would scrap as president, has emerged as a leading candidate to lead it under Donald Trump, a transition official said on Sunday.

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Perry’s proposal to scrap the energy department caused what has gone down in history as his “oops” moment, during a November 2011 Republican debate.

“It’s three agencies of government when I get there that are gone,” he said. “Commerce, education and the, um, what’s the third one there? Let’s see.”

His debate adversaries tried to jog his memory, suggesting the Environmental Protection Agency, which Perry said needed to be rebuilt, not scrapped. He then gave up.

“I can’t,” he said. “The third one, I can’t. Sorry. Oops.”

It was the energy department, which is responsible for US energy policy and oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons program.

The Democratic US senators Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia are also reportedly in the running for the job as Trump continues to fill key positions in his administration before taking office on 20 January, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Perry served as governor of Texas, a leading oil-producing state, from 2000 when he succeeded President George W Bush, until 2015. In two unsuccessful presidential runs, he touted his record of job creation in the second-most-populous state.

Perry also ran for the 2016 presidential nomination against Trump but dropped out in September 2015. He was initially a fierce critic of Trump, saying he represented a “cancer on conservatism” that should be “clearly diagnosed, excised and discarded”.



He later endorsed Trump and called him “the people’s choice”.

This fall, he appeared as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars, competing against disgraced Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte and novelty rapper Vanilla Ice.

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An appointment of Perry, a known climate change denier, would be further indication that the incoming Trump administration may be friendly toward the fossil fuel industry.



Trump is set to pick US representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a climate change denier and an advocate for expanded oil and gas development, to head the interior department.

Trump’s pick for the Environmental Protection Agency is Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt, an ardent opponent of Barack Obama’s measures to curb climate change who has sued the EPA in a bid to undo a key regulation to curb greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from coal-fired power plants.

Trump is also expected to name Rex Tillerson, chief executive of oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp, as secretary of state.