March 17, 2014

FOSSIL ENERGY CHIEF MCCONNELL TO LEAVE DOE ON FRIDAY

By ExchangeMonitor

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
1/29/13

Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Chuck McConnell is leaving the Department of Energy Feb. 1, GHG Monitor has learned. In an email to DOE employees this afternoon, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said McConnell will be leaving after nearly two years at the helm of DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy, but did not specify his reason for leaving or his future plans. Notably, McConnell’s departure comes days after as DOE received its FY 2014 ‘pass back’ from the White House Office of Management and Budget in preparation for the FY14 budget request. “I am honored to have had the chance to serve and progress the fossil agenda by focusing strongly on the business case and business community needs for commercial reality, energy security and environmental sustainability. I am looking forward to continuing my efforts as an active part of the energy marketplace both domestically and internationally,” McConnell told GHG Monitor in an e-mail.

Chu lauded McConnell for “helping bring a “sense of urgency and adopting some best practices from the private sector to help further the agency’s mission.” He added: “Chuck enthusiastically supported a new strategy, carbon capture, utilization and storage, which uses carbon produced by the burning of fossil fuels for enhanced oil recovery. Capturing CO2 from power plants and using it for enhanced oil recovery creates a win-win-win proposition for the environment, the economy, and American energy security. … If we can continue this progress, and continue driving down the price of captured CO2, the effect could be transformative.”

Chu also announced that Scott Klara will be stepping down as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, the No. 2 position in the Office of Fossil Energy, and will return to his previous role as Deputy Director of the National Energy Technology Laboratory. Chu said that Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oil and Natural Gas Chris Smith will now be acting Assistant Secretary.

For more information, see this Friday’s edition of GHG Monitor.

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