With the almost daily battles raging inside the Beltway over claims of "fake news," it's hardly surprising that energy hasn't been spared.
But what is surprising is the jarringly overt way in which energy is being politicized. The new Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry, is a good case in point.
As a former governor of Texas, Perry is a public supporter of increasing U.S. production of hydrocarbons like oil and gas, while openly criticizing the potential for alternative energy sources and roundly dismissing concerns over climate change.
And by the way, several times in the recent past he's also come out in favor of shutting down the very Department of Energy that he's now in charge of.
Recently, Perry's gone on the offensive against renewables – as well as (whether he realizes it or not) natural gas. He claims they're threatening the national power grid.
Here's how some of the targeted companies responded…