Global Courant
EXCLUSIVE: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg met privately last year with the head of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to electrifying the U.S. economy from transportation to home appliances like stoves.
According to his internal desk calendar obtained via inquiry by the watchdog group Americans for Public Trust (APT), Buttigieg met with RMI CEO Jon Creyts on November 30, 2022. Creyts, who assumed the leadership position earlier that same month, is described by RMI as an “internationally recognized leader on global energy issues and climate change.”
“Secretary Buttigieg’s misguided motto that ‘every transportation decision is a climate decision’ explains why he and the group are working overtime to ban gas stoves rather than ensure travel in the U.S. is safe and efficient,” said APT Director Caitlin. Sutherland to Fox News Digital.
“Buttigieg’s regular consultations with radical climate activists — whose main goal is to eliminate all fossil fuels — as they fly across the country in taxpayer-funded private jets is the height of highbrow hypocrisy that has become a hallmark of the Biden administration,” she continued. “It’s no wonder Americans across the country are outraged by his out-of-touch priorities.”
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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks at the National Association of Counties 2023 Legislative Conference in February. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Buttigieg’s agenda showed that the meeting was in-person and listed Creyts as the only attendee, but did not include an agenda for the meeting. However, RMI explained that the meeting focused on the group’s work to electrify the transportation industry.
“This meeting focused on RMI’s work to electrify the transportation industry, including electric vehicles, vehicle charging infrastructure and other clean mobility solutions,” RMI spokesperson Rachel Sarah told Fox News Digital.
The Department of Transport did not respond to a request for comment.
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Ensuring carbon-free transportation is listed as one of RMI’s top priorities on its websites. The group advocates for emission-free freight, electric passenger fleets and for the rapid nationwide construction of a charging network for electric vehicles. The group further states that it is “ending exhaust emissions to create cleaner air, save millions of lives and align the transportation industry with a target of 1.5°C”.
Jon Creyts, CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute, speaks at the World Sustainable Development Summit in India on February 23. (RMI/YouTube)
As part of its transportation initiative, RMI has been calling for states to adopt California’s recent regulations banning the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035.
“As states consider adopting (the California regulations) in whole or in part, it is valuable to consider not only the many economic, consumer and health benefits of electric vehicle deployment, but also the impact that these regulations will have. can have on tilting the market towards more rapid adoption of electric cars,” states an April RMI blog.
“Business-as-usual cannot be an option if the US and the world are to meet our climate goals,” it continues. “The way forward is clear and there is no time to lose.”
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Since taking office, Buttigieg has repeatedly pushed for greater distribution and production of electric vehicles.
Buttigieg speaking about electric vehicles at the Detroit Auto Show on September 14, 2022. (Katie McTiernan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
And the group recently made headlines after it funded a study revealing the public health dangers of using gas stoves. The study, written by RMI researchers Talor Gruenwald and Brady Seals, was cited in a January Bloomberg article with comments from a member of the Consumer Product Safety Commission who told the outlet that a ban on gas stoves was “on the table.”
The group’s position is to ensure that the US builds only zero-carbon buildings with electrical appliances in the future, while continuously adapting existing structures.
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“Fossil fuel (primarily gas) burning in U.S. homes and businesses is responsible for about one-tenth of the nation’s carbon emissions,” states another February RMI blog post. “Reducing this climate pollution is essential for the United States to meet climate goals and avoid the worst impacts of climate change.”
In addition, RMI has been working with the Chinese government to study the transition from traditional fossil fuels.
The group’s only office outside the US is in Beijing, the capital of China. Creyts, who met Buttigieg at his November meeting, helped establish RMI’s China program and the group’s office in Beijing.
In a 2020 report, RMI praised Chinese President Xi Jinping’s goal of decarbonising the goal of decarbonisation by 2060 as a “hugely important step forward in the international fight against climate change and reflects China’s determination to provide responsible global leadership” . (Jack Taylor/Pool Photo via AP)
In 2013, RMI partnered with the National Development and Reform Commission, a Chinese government agency, to create a roadmap for “China’s Energy and Production Revolution to 2050”. The report largely showed how the Chinese economy could use new clean energy technologies to replace oil and gas infrastructure.
On its website, the RMI lists 30 reports it helped compile on China. For example, a March report on China’s energy sector named Xue Han, of the government-run Development Research Center of the State Council, as a contributor.
RMI is also a member of the China Clean Transportation Partnership, a green group with significant ties to the Chinese government.
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In addition, RMI board member Wei Ding was previously chairman of the China International Capital Corporation, a bank partially owned by the Chinese government.
“RMI has been working with governments for four decades to accelerate the adoption of market-based solutions that cost-effectively drive a clean energy transition,” Sarah, RMI’s spokesperson, told Fox News Digital. “We aim to work with every entity to accelerate the transition to a carbon-free future and secure its benefits for all.”
“We routinely share our research and analysis with governments, policymakers from both sides, fellow nonprofits and companies – including those in the fossil fuel trade. RMI works in China because reducing emissions in China is critical to worst impacts of climate change.”
Thomas Catenacci is a political writer for Fox News Digital.
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