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Last year Exxon was on the ropes, reeling from public exposure of decades of deceit on climate. Now, things are looking up. But who will have the last say?

Later today, it is expected that Rex Tillerson, the ex-boss of Exxon, will be confirmed as America’s 69th Secretary of State.

As we enter Trump’s second full week in office, one thing has become extremely clear: we face the most hard-line anti-environmental, anti-women, anti-LGBT, anti-immigrant, xenophobic and inherently racist administration in decades in the US.

If anyone was in any doubt about whether Donald Trump would be a willing puppet of the fossil fuel industry once in office, yesterday he made his intentions clear. He intends to be Big Oil’s puppeteer in chief.

Even in their wildest dreams the oil boys at Exxon could never have imagined that their man would actually make it to one of the top jobs in the US Government. But this now looks likely after the Senate Foreign Relations committee narrowly voted to approve ex-Exxon boss, T-Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State yesterday.

Trump's move on Keystone XL and U.S. steel won't work. He should look to clean energy to stimulate job growth.

As the Trump Administration yesterday descended into a farce of “alternative facts” to try and argue that there had been historic numbers at the new President’s inauguration, it is quite clear "alternative" and blatently bogus facts will be used on energy and climate too.

Later today, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) will grill the latest climate denier to be offered a job in the Trump Administration. Scott Pruitt, the current Oklahoma Attorney General and long-term critic of the US Environmental Protection Agency, stands to become the Head of the EPA.

As we edge ever closer to a full-blown Trump Presidency, there is still an outside chance that oilman Rex Tillerson may not make it through the confirmation process.

As Washington gets back to work after the Christmas break and it begins the process of Congressional hearings for nominations over Trump’s cabinet, so the resistance to those appointments is increasing too.