Washington (Platts)--11Dec2008

US President-elect Barack Obama's reported pick for energy secretary,
Nobel-prize winning scientist Steven Chu, would bring a technical expertise to
the position that would make him effective at combating greenhouse gas
emissions and promoting alternative energy, according to observers.

These are two areas that Obama has emphasized, and Chu has aggressively
championed, in solving US energy and environmental concerns.

Chu is currently director of the US Department of Energy's Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory, where he successfully competed against several
other labs to attract a $500-million alternative energy research facility
funded by BP. He has also pushed for a center that will develop ways to
convert solar energy to a transportation fuel.

In remarks at the dedication of a new Berkeley lab biofuels research
center last week, Chu compared the scientific efforts fighting World War II to
those needed against climate change.

"The reality of past threats was apparent to everyone whereas the threat
of global climate change is not so immediately apparent," Chu said.
"Nonetheless, this threat has just got to be solved. We can't fail."

Word of Chu's reported selection came with reports that the former
director of the New Jersey Department of Environment Protection, Lisa Jackson,
is Obama's choice to run the Environmental Protection Agency, and that Nancy
Sutley is would head the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Sutley
is the deputy mayor of Los Angeles for energy and environmental issues, having
been tasked by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to substantially "green" the city.

Obama is expected to appoint former EPA Director Carol Browner to
coordinate energy and environmental policies across the government, including
at DOE, EPA and the Department of the Interior.

While his position heading DOE will require Chu to deal with an economy
largely reliant on fossil fuels, he has been at the forefront of developing
ways to move away from that. It is a perspective that many see as needed at
the department and as a bell weather for where US energy policy is headed.

"Given his technical and scientific background and the sorts of things he
has been doing during his tenure at Lawrence Berkeley lab, I think that will
be reflected in the agenda and priorities for the Department of Energy under
his leadership," said Thomas Mason, who, as director of DOE's Oak Ridge
National Laboratory, has worked with Chu.

While some see his technical background as less than ideal to manage a
department with a $26-billion budget, much of which goes to nuclear weapons
programs, others see it as completely appropriate.

"At this point in time, dealing with the complexities of climate change
and other issues we have, and people making various claims for various
technological programs that deal with climate change, I think a real techie up
there is not a bad idea," said Charley Ebinger, the director of Brookings
Institution's Energy Security Initiative.

Chu has not been shy, either, about using his position at the lab to
broadcast his concerns about climate change and global warming. At a renewable
energy conference in Nevada in August hosted by Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid, Chu laid out the possible impact from a climate change of several
degrees.

"Climate change of that scale will cause enormous resource wars, over
water, arable land, and massive population displacements. We're not talking
about ten thousand people. We're not talking about ten million people, we're
talking about hundreds of millions to billions of people being flooded out,
permanently," he said.

Some also see Chu's perspective as a stark change from the current energy
policies under President Bush.

"He will bring a scientific rigor to President-elect Obama's clean energy
and global warming agenda. Following on the heels of the anti-science Bush
administration, its like going to Mensa after spending eight years in the flat
earth society," Daniel Weiss, director of climate strategy at the Center for
American Progress Action Fund. The CAP Action Fund is run by John Podesta, the
head of Obama's transition efforts.

At Berkeley, Chu already has a reputation for aggressively pushing
alternative energy research, including the Helios project, for developing fuel
from solar energy, the $500 million BP-funded Energy Biosciences Institute,
and the DOE-funded, $135 million Joint Biosciences Energy Institute.

"Long before renewable energy and global warming moved to the forefront
of the national consciousness, Steve Chu envisioned the Helios Program at
Berkeley Lab to develop new sources of transportation fuels from sunlight.
Steve's steadfast support of JBEI from concept to implementation has helped to
make JBEI what it is today," Jay Keasling, head of JBEI, said at the
institute's dedication.

Jackson's apparent appointment was welcomed by environmental groups who
pointed to her work in putting forward policies designed to curb climate
change and to protect local wildlife. "It's going to be a good day for
America," said Tom Gilmore, president of the New Jersey Audubon Society.

--Derek Sands, derek_sands@platts.com
--Alexander Duncan, alexander_duncan@platts.com