Physicist Ernest Moniz has been nominated to head theDepartment of Energy during President Obama's second term. As with all Cabinet posts, the Senate must confirm the nominees announced this morning by President Barack Obama in the East Room of the White House.
The president selected world-renowned MIT physics professor Ernest Moniz to replace Steven Chu to head up the Department of Energy. Moniz is chief of the MIT Energy Initiative and served under Bill Clinton as a science and technology adviser and under both him and Obama as undersecretary for energy. Four years ago he was appointed to the president's Science and Technology Advisory Council.
Moniz is fully on board with the all-of-the-above energy approach of the Obama administration. He has supported nuclear power, evolutionary designs based on what has been built in the past rather than revolutionary nuclear reactor types that have not yet been tested and built and would require a "tortuous" vetting and permitting process. He does, however, support research and development of new, smaller modular reactors. The disaster at Fukushima did not change his mind. He also supports ground-level storage of nuclear waste so that it can be reprocessed for fuel sometime in the next few decades. Environmental advocates are divided on whether nuclear power should be part of the mix of future energy choices.
Many such advocates, however, are worried about Moniz's strong support for natural gas as a "bridge [fuel] to a low-carbon energy future," something he noted in MIT's 2010 report, The Future of Natural Gas. In testimony to Congress, he called natural gas "one of the most cost-effective means by which to maintain energy supplies while reducing CO2 emissions." He has made clear, on the other hand, that he does not see natural gas as a permanent solution, noting that it "has to be a bridge to somewhere." Please read more about Moniz and EPA nominee Gina McCarthy below the fold.
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