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For Immediate Release
August, 09 2018, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
Brian Willis, 202.675.2386, Brian.Willis@sierraclub.org
Bernard McNamee Would Lead the Charge at FERC to Bail Out Old, Expensive Coal Plants
WASHINGTON
Media outlets reported today that the Trump Administration is planning to nominate Department of Energy official Bernard McNamee to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in order to fill the seat of resigning commissioner Robert Powelson. McNamee helped roll out Energy Secretary Rick Perry's failed coal and nuclear bailout proposal last year, which would have cost electricity customers billions of dollars, and has been a lifelong proponent of dirty fossil fuels.
In response, Mary Anne Hitt, Senior Director of Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, released the following statement:
"Bernard McNamee's record makes it clear that he would erode FERC's independence and push for taxpayers to be forced into a massive bailout of failing coal and nuclear plants. From celebrating Earth Day by publishing pro-fossil fuel editorials, to leading the rollout of Trump's previous coal bailout boondoggle, Bernard McNamee has a checkered past that makes him unfit to serve at FERC. If McNamee is confirmed to FERC, he will abuse that authority to lead the charge to force taxpayers to spend tens of billions of dollars to bail out old, expensive coal and nuclear plants, at the expense of cleaner, cheaper competitors like solar, wind, and grid storage. Since many coal and nuclear plants can't compete in the market anymore, Trump is hoping to install a crony at FERC who will unfairly tip the scales in favor of propping up those failing industries. It's outrageous that someone so clearly biased, who has championed an expensive and unnecessary bailout for millionaire Trump supporters, is even being considered as a commissioner to this independent agency, and we'll do everything we can stop his nomination."
The Sierra Club is the most enduring and influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. We amplify the power of our 3.8 million members and supporters to defend everyone's right to a healthy world.
(415) 977-5500LATEST NEWS
‘What Oligarchy Looks Like’: AI Giants Pledge to Pump $100 Million Into 2026 Midterms
The goal of the PAC is to elect a Congress that will prohibit individual states from passing their own AI regulations.
Feb 11, 2026
Silicon Valley elites are planning to spend big money in 2026 to ensure that the next US Congress will be even more friendly to the artificial intelligence industry than the current Republican-led version.
CNN reported on Wednesday that Leading the Future, a super political action committee (PAC) focused on electing AI-friendly members of Congress, is pledging to spend at least $100 million to influence the 2026 midterm election.
The PAC, which is backed by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, and other AI heavyweights, is working to elect lawmakers who will pass legislation that will set a single set of AI regulations that will take effect throughout the US, overriding any restrictions placed on the technology by state governments.
The massive sum the PAC is dedicating to the 2026 midterms prompted Matthew Stoller, researcher at the American Economic Liberties Project, to remark that this is "what oligarchy looks like."
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tried to get a provision preempting state AI regulations slipped into the GOP's major budget package last year, but it was ultimately taken out amid bipartisan resistance to giving the AI industry a blank regulatory check.
President Donald Trump subsequently signed an executive order instructing the US Department of Justice to create a task force that would sue any state governments that enact supposedly "onerous and excessive" regulations on the technology.
However, as an executive order, this directive can be overturned by any future president who supports stronger AI regulation.
CNN noted that Leading the Future's planned flood of cash is coming at a time when AI has been drawing skepticism from factions within both the Republican and Democratic parties.
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for instance, has thrown his support behind a "Citizen Bill of Rights for AI," which would provide privacy protections for end users and place restrictions on the construction of AI data centers.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), meanwhile, has called for a full moratorium on the construction of new AI data centers.
Leading the Future also appears to understand that the AI industry's reputation is becoming toxic for voters.
As Fast Company reported on Wednesday, the super PAC has launched negative ads against Democratic New York US congressional candidate Alex Bores by highlighting his past work at Palantir, which has become controversial for providing technology used by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to carry out mass deportations.
Current and former Palantir employees told Fast Company that they believe the ad against Bores to be highly deceptive, as Palantir wasn't nearly as integrated with ICE operations during his tenure as it is today.
"If Bores’ campaign is one that would restrict the tech industry’s growth," one former Palantir employee told Fast Company, "and his base is one that is already primed to be critical of Palantir, people (like me!) who watch this ad wouldn’t suspect that it’s people with significant interests in Palantir and the broader industry that are funding the ads, too."
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Texas Lawmakers Sound Alarm on 'Torture, Killing, and Inhumane Treatment' of Detainees in Fort Bliss ICE Facility
At least three inmates have died in the facility in just two months, including one who witnesses say was choked to death by guards.
Feb 11, 2026
A group of Texas legislators have delivered an urgent warning about the treatment of detainees in the country’s largest immigration detention camp, which sits on an Army base in El Paso.
“We have received numerous credible reports of torture, killing, and inhumane treatment of detained individuals at the Camp East Montana migrant detention facility, located within Fort Bliss,” said Rep. Ana-María Rodríguez Ramos (D-102), who joined 35 other Democrats in the Texas state House on Tuesday to demand an investigation into the facility.
Camp East Montana was constructed in August as part of the Trump administration's effort to ramp up Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) "mass deportation" of immigrants. The selection of Fort Bliss has historical precedent, having previously been used as a site for the internment of Japanese people during World War II.
Using a secretive contract undisclosed to the public, the Pentagon awarded roughly $1.2 billion to a private contractor in July to construct a sprawling tent city to hold around 5,000 people rounded up by ICE.
"Almost immediately upon its opening, detainees, their families, and legal watchdog organizations began bringing attention to conditions that were deemed unsuitable for detainees, even by internal standards set by Immigration and Customs Enforcement," the legislators wrote in a letter to state Rep. Cole Hefner (R-5), who chairs the House Committee on Homeland Security, Public Safety, and Veterans Affairs.
During the camp's first 50 days of operation, ICE inspections revealed that it had violated more than 60 federal detention standards. The report, compiled in September, was not released to the public, but was reported on by the Washington Post, which spoke with dozens of detainees.
"On ICE's webpage titled 'Detention Management,' it states that 'detention is non-punitive,'" the legislators wrote Tuesday. "Yet, according to reporting by the Washington Post based on sworn statements from dozens of detainees, the facility, for months, was being run like a prison in a country without standards for oversight, health, or safety for the inmates."
"There were complaints that the toilets and sinks didn't work for the first few weeks after the facility's opening last August. There were complaints logged that, for the first few weeks, the facility didn't adequately feed detainees. They also complained about another violation of ICE standards: the lack of access to telephones for detainees to communicate with family and legal representation," they continued.
Earlier this week, US Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), who visited the facility unannounced on Friday, disclosed that at least two cases of tuberculosis and 18 cases of Covid-19 had been identified at the facility.
"While the private corporation continues to pocket our tax dollars, it's clear the conditions are only getting worse," she said.
The state lawmakers also cited a letter sent by the ACLU, Human Rights Watch, and several other civil rights groups in December addressing "cases of illegal, extrajudicial attempts to deport detainees to Mexico."
One inmate, a Cuban immigrant identified as "Benjamin," said he was threatened by guards who attempted to make him sign a letter agreeing to be deported to Mexico.
“The guards told him that if he did not, they would handcuff him, put a bag over his head, and send him to Mexico. Benjamin refused to sign the document, stating that he was scared to go to Mexico, because he had heard that migrants are often kidnapped, robbed, or killed there,” the ACLU letter said.
The letter also provided several examples of inmates being subject to physical and sexual assault at the hands of officers.
"People detained at Fort Bliss report that officers have crushed detainees’ testicles with their fingers, slammed detained people to the ground, stomped on detained people and punched their faces, and beaten detained people even after they are cuffed and restrained," it said.
The legislators also noted that three detainees have died in the facility in just two months.
On December 3, 48-year-old Guatemalan inmate Francisco Gaspar-Andrés was reported to have died of natural causes, namely liver and kidney failure, according to an ICE press release.
Since then, two other inmates have died. On January 14, 36-year-old Victor Manuel Diaz was found dead of an apparent suicide, though the cause of death remains under investigation.
Prior to that, the Department of Homeland Security reported that the death of another inmate, 55-year-old Geraldo Lunas Campos from Cuba, on January 3, was also a suicide.
However, witnesses have said they saw guards choking Lunas Campos and that he was heard saying, "I can’t breathe." His death has since been ruled a homicide after an autopsy revealed the cause of death to have been “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.”
The letter notes that while Lunas Campos was "convicted of heinous crimes," including sexual contact with an 11-year-old, "he was not sentenced to death by a judge or jury—he was killed by someone responsible for his care, for unknown reasons or circumstances."
"It is our responsibility as Texas legislators to ensure that we can trust that jails, prisons, and detention facilities in Texas operate to our high standards and expectations," the lawmakers said. "We must learn more, investigate, and provide answers to the millions of Americans demanding the truth. We must also ensure this does not happen again in any federal detention facility."
The call for an investigation comes as DHS plans to rapidly convert at least around two dozen warehouses into massive new detention centers across the country. At least three of these locations are planned for Texas. One of them, planned for the town of Hutchins outside Dallas, is expected to hold around 9,500 inmates.
The legislators said: "Human rights abuses, ignoring due process requirements, repeated violation of federal regulations, clear disrespect for the United States Constitution, and murder are unconscionable on any inch of American soil—but these crimes against real people are happening in Texas, and require proud Texans to stand up in defense of our Constitution and use our power to end this widespread abuse."
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Bondi Stonewalls Congress on the ‘Enemies List’ She Directed DOJ to Compile
"Americans have never tolerated political demagogues who use the government to punish people on an enemies list," said one congresswoman.
Feb 11, 2026
Along with refusing to acknowledge the harm her Department of Justice has done to victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and yelling personal insults at Democratic members of Congress, US Attorney General Pam Bondi stonewalled at Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee hearing when Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon asked her direct questions about the Trump administration's attempts to label dissenters "domestic terrorists."
At the hearing focusing on oversight of the DOJ, Scanlon (D-Pa.) asked about National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), which President Donald Trump signed in September, weeks after claiming the "radical left" was "directly responsible" for the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
The memo directs federal agencies to develop a “national strategy to investigate and disrupt networks, entities, and organizations that foment political violence so that law enforcement can intervene in criminal conspiracies before they result in violent political acts," with an exclusive focus on anti-fascist or left-wing groups.
It classifies anti-capitalism; "extremism" on migration, race, and gender; and "hostility" toward "traditional American views on family" as some of the viewpoints that are held by groups that the Trump administration aims to disrupt, and the memo was expanded on by another memo in which Bondi directed the DOJ to compile a list of possible "domestic terrorism" groups that hold the views identified in NSPM-7.
The memos were signed months after Bondi said under oath that there would "never be an enemies list" compiled by the DOJ.
Scanlon noted in the hearing Wednesday that "Americans across the political spectrum were immediately alarmed by the memo's blurring of the line between unlawful conduct and constitutionally protected speech and activity, as well as its call to investigate, prosecute, and dismantle groups" with which the administration disagrees.
When the congresswoman asked Bondi to confirm whether the list she called for in her December memo has been compiled, the attorney general said she was "not going to answer yes or no" before saying that "an antifa member" was arrested earlier this month in Minneapolis for "cyberstalking."
🚨 Pam Bondi refuses to say if the list of "domestic terrorist organizations" she ordered the Justice Department to create has been completed.
"I'm not going to answer yes or no" pic.twitter.com/51oPYvaxQg
— Ken Klippenstein (NSPM-7 Compliant) (@kenklippenstein) February 11, 2026
The exchange was typical of the proceedings; members of the committee were continually frustrated during the hearing as Bondi refused to respond to straightforward questions about the Epstein files and other issues. Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) at one point implored the attorney general not to "go off on a wild goose chase, another tangent," when asked a question.
Scanlon later asked Bondi if she would commit to providing the committee with the list of entities that the DOJ believes should be "designated as domestic terrorist organizations."
"I'm not going to commit to anything to you because you won't let me answer questions," the attorney general replied.
CONGRESS: Will you commit to provide this committee with your list of entities that you recommend be designated as domestic terrorist organizations?
PAM BONDI: I'm not going to commit to anything pic.twitter.com/K9HySj72MU
— Ken Klippenstein (NSPM-7 Compliant) (@kenklippenstein) February 11, 2026
Scanlon responded, "We understand your current position is that you have a secret list of people or groups who you are accusing of domestic terrorism, but you won't share it with Congress."
The exchange came two weeks after independent journalist Ken Klippenstein reported that he had learned from senior administration officials that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have already compiled over a dozen "secret and obscure" watchlists of pro-Palestinian and anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protesters and other people who have been labeled "domestic terrorists."
An ICE agent deployed in Maine also sparked alarm last month when he told a woman who was filming him that doing so would land her in a "nice little database" the department has, where she would be labeled a domestic terrorist. Filming ICE agents is protected under the First Amendment.
And CNN reported that DHS sent a memo to ICE agents deployed in Minneapolis directing them to fill out forms with personal data about protesters and people the department labeled "agitators."
Despite the mounting evidence that the administration is compiling data about dissenters, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said late last month that "there is NO database of ‘domestic terrorists’ run by DHS."
While Bondi similarly refused to confirm that DOJ has compiled a list of what it claims are domestic terrorist groups, Scanlon issued a warning that "Americans have never tolerated political demagogues who use the government to punish people on an enemies list."
Doing so "brought down" former Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare, she said, as well as former President Richard Nixon.
"And it will bring down this administration as well," said Scanlon.
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