DOE staffer fired for taking pictures of Perry and coal baron.

DOE staffer claims retaliation over photos of secret meeting "A former photographer at the Department of Energy says he lost his job in retaliation for making public photos of a meeting between Secretary Rick Perry and a coal baron peddling a wish list of policy initiatives that would directly benefit his company. Simon Edelman has filed a federal whistleblower complaint alleging he was terminated from the agency after he provided the photos to two media outlets that published them in December. Edelman was at the March 29, 2017, meeting snapping shots as Robert “Bob” Murray handed Perry a four-page “action plan” to revive the nation’s struggling coal industry. Murray is chairman and CEO of Ohio-based Murray Energy, one of the nation’s largest coal producers. Also attending the meeting were Perry’s chief of staff and Andrew Wheeler, a coal company lobbyist later nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as the second-highest ranking official at the Environmental Protection Agency