CHU ANNOUNCES PLANS TO STEP DOWN AS SECRETARY OF ENERGY

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
2/1/13

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu officially announced Feb. 1 that he will step down as Secretary of Energy once a successor is named, confirming news that has been widely expected for weeks. In a six-page memo to Department of Energy staff, Chu said that after four years at the helm of the Department, he is eager to return to California and academic life. “Serving the country as Secretary of Energy, and working alongside such an extraordinary team of people at the Department, has been the greatest privilege of my life,” the Nobel Prize-winning physicist said in the memo. Chu said he plans to stay on as Energy Secretary at least through the end of the month to attend DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Summit and likely until a new secretary is confirmed by the Senate.

Chu listed the creation of ARPA-E as one of the highlights of his tenure at the Department. “ARPA-E was designed to support high-risk, high reward technology development; to swing for game-changing home runs that can fundamentally transform energy technologies,” Chu said. “The program has earned the respect of industry and academia for its outstanding funding choices, and active, thoughtful program management.” He also credited the doubling of energy production from renewables as another major accomplishment. In his memo, Chu did not specifically list DOE’s carbon capture and storage program under his accomplishments, but briefly mentioned the work fostered under the US-China Clean Energy Research Center as a success. That program focuses in part on carbon capture, utilization and sequestration development work. 

In his memo, Chu highlighted the Department’s role in helping mitigate the threat of climate change. “While we cannot accurately predict the course of climate change in the coming decades, the risks we run if we don’t change our course are enormous. Prudent risk management does not equate uncertainty with inaction,” Chu said, adding that the U.S. has a “moral responsibility” to help the victims of climate change.

Former Governors Listed As Potential Successors

President Obama has not yet announced a successor for Chu, but former North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan has been listed as a potential nominee, as have former Governors Bill Ritter (Colo.), Christine Gregoire (Wash.) and Jennifer Granholm (Mich.). Chu was one of the last members of Obama’s Cabinet to announce his plans for the President’s second term.