Will ExxonMobil and Peabody Coal Chu up the New Energy Secretary?
President-elect Obama has chosen Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, who heads the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, to be the next energy secretary. He should have picked a street-fighter instead. Chu is making enormous contributions to nano-solar and bio-based energy technology. He’s also a strong believer in the need to combat global warming. But given his demeanor and his scientific background, it’s very likely that ExxonMobil, Peabody Coal and the rest of the dinosaur lobby will hand him his lunch.
TAGS: Government Policy, US
I wonder
I heard Chu on a video describe the type of guy he wants to have work for him in his lab, the kind of guy he thinks might win the next Nobel. He said that type of guy wants something so badly he makes it happen. Intelligence and mastery of his field is a given, but what is rare, Chu said, was this burning desire to achieve. Maybe Chu, who was this type of scientist, has a fire burning inside to do something about global warming. He looks promising to me.
A great darkness is lifting from my heart.