Hubbel Relat

Hubbel Relat

Credentials

  • J.D., George Mason School of Law (2008).1โ€œStaff: Hubbel Relat,โ€ American Energy Alliance. Archived December 8, 2016. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
  • B.A., Political Science and Government, UC Santa Barbara (2003).2โ€œHubbel Relat,โ€ LinkedIn. Accessed February 27, 2019.

Background

Hubbel Relat is the former vice president for state policy and general counsel for American Energy Alliance. He worked as director of external relations for the pro-fossil fuel group Fueling US Forward before joining the US Department of Interior as special assistant to the solicitor in July 2018. As of January 2019, Relat worked as counselor to David Bernhardt, acting Secretary of the DOI.3โ€œStaff: Hubbel Relat,โ€ American Energy Alliance. Archived December 8, 2016. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog. 4โ€œHubbel Relat,โ€ LinkedIn. Accessed February 27, 2019.

Relat has written for Fueling U.S. Forward, a Koch-funded front group crafted by veteran Washington communications specialists. The organization โ€” led by long-time fossil fuel executive and lobbyist Charlie Drevna โ€” seeks to present oil and gas as savior fuels without any mention of the well-known impacts of fossil fuel pollution on our air, water, health and climate.5โ€œThese Moments: The Internet,โ€ November 16, 2016. Archived December 10, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/jhwst

Relat is also is the former associate director of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation and has worked with the Koch-affiliated i360 and Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce where he was chief strategist.6โ€œExclusive: Inside the Koch Brothersโ€™ Secret Billionaire Summit,โ€ The Nation, June 17, 2014. Archived December 8, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/lFFRo 7โ€œHubbel Relat,โ€ LinkedIn. Accessed February 27, 2019.

Stance on Climate Change

Speaking on President Obama’s carbon plan at CPAC2016:8โ€œ#CPAC2016: Romney v. Trump, Rubio v. Cruz, Amnesty, Obamacare, & Death penalty,โ€ YouTube video uploaded by user The Real Side, March 3, 2016. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog. Video starts at [2:45:12]

โ€œThe President’s carbon rule, his climate legacy, is fundamentally seeking to transfer wealth from the middle states who rely on affordable energy and have made good energy policy priority and transfer wealth to pay for the bad decisions by states like California and the northeast. [โ€ฆ] That’s fundamentally what this isโ€“a wealth transfer for states that he likes from states that he does not. โ€ [2:47:39]

Key Quotes

April 15, 2016

โ€œEPA Administrator Gina McCarthy declared that there was ‘not one single bit of evidence that [the EPA has] destroyed an industry or significantly impacted jobs other than in a positive way.’

This statement is clearly contradicted by reality and credible studies. For example, the economic consulting firm NERA found that the cost of EPAโ€™s so-called ‘Clean Power Plan’ could total nearly $300 billion. Nearly $300 billion in compliance costs will significantly impact jobs.โ€9โ€œThe Two Faces of Coal Opposition,โ€ American Energy Alliance, April 15, 2016. Archived December 8, 2016. archive.is URL: https://archive.is/5MsVD

March 31, 2016

โ€œFirst, wind and solar are intermittent sources of energy, which means they cannot be relied on to provide sufficient electricity at a given point when the grid needs it. Conversely, coal and natural gas are baseload sources of power, precisely because they can be scaled up or down at any given time to meet energy needs. This is a critical difference between renewables and fossil fuels that permanently makes the former unable to actually replace the latter.

The cherry-picking method used to manufacture these projections has been written about extensively.โ€10โ€œEPAโ€™s Deceptive Defense of Carbon Rule,โ€ American Energy Alliance, March 31, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/bJHVr

July 8, 2015

โ€œThe administration equating our commentary on the relevance of the [mercury rule] to [the carbon rule] as โ€œapples to orangesโ€ presents a straw man that distracts from the lesson states should take away from [the mercury rule] โ€” if you start implementing the rule before full legal resolution, there’s no going back. Even worse, the EPA is counting on this to happen.โ€11Zack Colman. โ€œStates working on power-plant compliance plans,โ€ Washington Examiner, July 8, 2015. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/oPj3o

Key Deeds

February 2019

Relat commented on a new rule proposed at the Department of Interior which would impose limits on public records requests to the department. Following a significant increase in the number of public records requests filed to the U.S. Department of Interior, which argued it’s being targeted by โ€œlitigious special interest groups.โ€12โ€œInterior Dept.’s Push To Limit Public Records Requests Draws Criticism,โ€ NPR, February 27, 2019. Archived February 27, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/n2IMk

โ€œThey are more voluminous,โ€ said Hubbel Relat. โ€œThey’ve delved a little deeper into the quest for a range of information that appears to, at times, be asking for every document that’s ever been created by the Department of the Interior.โ€13โ€œInterior Dept.’s Push To Limit Public Records Requests Draws Criticism,โ€ NPR, February 27, 2019. Archived February 27, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/n2IMk

โ€œWhat this [new rule] does is allow us to say, ‘OK. We will produce a set number of documents and then we are going to move to the next requester and then and on and on,โ€ Relat said. โ€œSo everyone gets the same amount of documents and we will return to your request once everybody has had a turn.โ€14โ€œInterior Dept.’s Push To Limit Public Records Requests Draws Criticism,โ€ NPR, February 27, 2019. Archived February 27, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/n2IMk

Others have argued the changes would make it more difficult for the public to learn what is going on at the DOI.15โ€œInterior Dept.’s Push To Limit Public Records Requests Draws Criticism,โ€ NPR, February 27, 2019. Archived February 27, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/n2IMk

โ€œThe changes are really incredible,โ€ said Adam Marshall, a staff attorney with the Reporters Committee For Freedom of the Press. โ€œAnd not in a good way.โ€16โ€œInterior Dept.’s Push To Limit Public Records Requests Draws Criticism,โ€ NPR, February 27, 2019. Archived February 27, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/n2IMk

The Western Values Project, a non-profit watchdog group that has frequently requested documents from the DOI, commented:17โ€œInterior Dept.’s Push To Limit Public Records Requests Draws Criticism,โ€ NPR, February 27, 2019. Archived February 27, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/n2IMk

โ€œWhat they are doing is a very thinly veiled effort to target critics of the Trump administration and to keep their corruption a secret,โ€ said Chris Saeger, the Western Values Project’s executive director.18โ€œInterior Dept.’s Push To Limit Public Records Requests Draws Criticism,โ€ NPR, February 27, 2019. Archived February 27, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/n2IMk

โ€œWe file public records requests in order to find out if the people who run the Department of the Interior have conflicts of interests with the companies that they are supposed to regulate.โ€19โ€œInterior Dept.’s Push To Limit Public Records Requests Draws Criticism,โ€ NPR, February 27, 2019. Archived February 27, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/n2IMk

January 21, 2017

FUSF awarded three African-American students at Northwest Halifax High School $1,500 in scholarships for an electrical lineman training program. Hubbel Relat, FUSF’ said Fueling U.S. Forward was making an effort to reach minority communities, reported Dailytarheel.com.20Camille Vargas. โ€œFossil fuel advocacy campaign offers scholarships to African-American students,โ€ Dailytarheel.com, March 6, 2017. Archived April 11, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/3bjHI

โ€œDespite how important this industry is to all of our lives and our economy, the African-American communities and a lot of rural communities in general are underrepresented and left out of this industry,โ€ Relat said. โ€œA lot of the time they are simply not made aware of the job opportunities in the industry.โ€21Camille Vargas. โ€œFossil fuel advocacy campaign offers scholarships to African-American students,โ€ Dailytarheel.com, March 6, 2017. Archived April 11, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/3bjHI

June 16, 2016

Hubbel Relat appeared on a panel titled Energy: Changing the Narrative, โ€œpresumably meant to change the narrative of climate change to one of energy independenceโ€ reported The Nation.22Lauren Windsor. โ€œExclusive: Inside the Koch Brothersโ€™ Secret Billionaire Summit,โ€ The Nation, June 17, 2014. Archived March 13, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/n8e5c

Other panelists included Nancy Pfotenhauer, the president of MediaSpeak Strategies and former director of Koch Industriesโ€™ Washington Office, and Karen Steward, Director of Research at Freedom Partners.23Lauren Windsor. โ€œExclusive: Inside the Koch Brothersโ€™ Secret Billionaire Summit,โ€ The Nation, June 17, 2014. Archived March 13, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/n8e5c

March 3, 2016

Hubbel Relat, representing the American Energy Alliance, spoke at CPAC 2016. He spoke about President Obama’s carbon plan, contending it was essentially wealth transfer.24โ€œ#CPAC2016: Romney v. Trump, Rubio v. Cruz, Amnesty, Obamacare, & Death penalty,โ€ YouTube video uploaded by user The Real Side, March 3, 2016. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog. Video starts at [2:45:12]

โ€œThe President’s carbon rule, his climate legacy, is fundamentally seeking to transfer wealth from the middle states who rely on affordable energy and have made good energy policy priority and transfer wealth to pay for the bad decisions by states like California and the northeast. [โ€ฆ] That’s fundamentally what this isโ€“a wealth transfer for states that he likes from states that he does not. โ€ [2:47:39]

Affiliations

Publications

Sample publications at AEA:

Sample publications at Fueling US Forward:

Other Resources

Resources

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American Energy Alliance (AEA) Background The American Energy Alliance is a 501(c)(4) not-for-profit organization founded in May, 2008. It is the advocacy arm of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit...
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