Energy Secretary Chu to Step Down

[G8trGr8t]

Ray LaHood also resigning as Transportation Secretary.

http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/...He_Will_Resign

Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Friday he will step down, ending a tumultuous four years marked by revolutions in U.S. energy production and marred by scandals over clean-energy financing. His departure completes the exodus of President Barack Obama's first-term energy and environmental team.

In a lengthy letter to Energy Department employees Friday, Mr. Chu said that his tenure had been "incredibly demanding but enormously rewarding," and that he told Mr. Obama of his desire to return to academia shortly after the November election. Mr. Chu said he will stay through the end of the month and possibly later depending on the timetable for his successor.

Mr. Chu, 64 years old, is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who brought scientific gravitas to an office usually headed by politicians or administrators. In a statement, Mr. Obama said, "during his time as secretary, Steve helped my administration move America towards real energy independence."

For months, there has been speculation that Mr. Chu, the former director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, wanted to return to his roots in research. Mr. Chu was a constant target of political criticism during the first term, especially for his role in channeling federal loan guarantees to Solyndra LLC, a solar power company that later went bankrupt. Mr. Chu had also drawn the ire of Republicans with comments about his desire to make energy more expensive and his plans to phase out the use of coal for making electricity.

Among the people who have been mentioned as possible successors to Mr. Chu are Dan Reicher, a former Google Inc. (GOOG) executive now at Stanford; Tom Steyer, a wealthy energy investor and longtime Democratic supporter who spoke at the 2012 party convention; and politicians including former Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

The oil and gas industry is the biggest growth industry in the country helping to create and retain more wealth than any other industry going. Hopefully 0 will pick somebody that is willing to kiss that golden goose and quit trying to kick him off the porch this time.