As widely expected, Energy Secretary Steven Chu offered his resignation to President Obama in a letter last Friday. He said that he would stay on at least until the end of the month and may stay until a successor is confirmed. Chu, who won a Nobel Prize in physics, is a former director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in California and had little political experience before taking the energy post in 2009.
Chu’s departure follows announcements by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson, and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that they are leaving. The White House said no decisions have been made on replacements for any of the environment and energy positions.
President Obama said in a statement that Chu brought a “unique understanding of both the urgent challenge presented by climate change and the tremendous opportunity that clean energy represents for our economy.” He also helped move the country toward energy independence, the president said, referring to billions of dollars in Energy Department loans to boost renewable energy such as wind and solar power. However, Chu was criticized for his handling of a $528 million federal loan to solar panel maker Solyndra, which later went bankrupt.
