Rick Perry will run the Energy Department he wanted to destroy

Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas, will be secretary of energy in the Trump administration, according to The New York Times.

The choice is somewhat ironic. Until now, Perry’s most high-profile comment about energy came during a debate back in 2011 when he forgot the name of the Department of Energy as one of the three Cabinet positions he wanted to get rid of.

“The third agency of government I would — I would do away with Education, the Commerce…Commerce and, let's see. I can't. The third one, I can't. Sorry — oops," he said, before later telling everyone that he remembered it was the Energy Department.

Today, Perry sits on the board of the parent company of Dakota Access LLC, the same company that wanted to build the Dakota Access Pipeline against the wishes of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Earlier in December, after months of protest and tension, the Army Corps of Engineers said that it would not approve permits for the pipeline.

Perry was governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015, and a candidate in the Republican primaries last year before dropping out and endorsing Sen. Ted Cruz.