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USA nuclear, coal, policy-makers leave, in troubled election climate

The major shift in DOE leadership is afoot as the Obama administration prepares to grapple with a new and more hostile Congress….“I can’t recall . . . this many leaving at the same time.”

Energy Department changes continue as heads of nuclear, coal offices depart,  The Hill’s E2-Wire, By Ben Geman – 10/04/10 The directors of the Energy Department’s offices of nuclear power and fossil energy – which includes programs to trap carbon emissions from coal plants – are leaving the agency, signaling a major change in DOE’s upper ranks.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu, in an email to DOE staff Friday, announced the early November departures of Jim Markowsky, the assistant secretary for fossil energy, and Pete Miller, the assistant secretary for nuclear energy.News of the changes comes two weeks after DOE announced the departures of Undersecretary for Energy Kristina Johnson and Matt Rogers, who advises Chu on implementing the massive energy programs in the 2009 stimulus law

The major shift in DOE leadership is afoot as the Obama administration prepares to grapple with a new and more hostile Congress.

Republicans are slated to make major gains in the mid-term elections and some analysts are predicting they will reclaim the House majority.

One former high-level DOE official said it is common for top managers to leave after the first two years of an administration, but noted, “I can’t recall . . . this many leaving at the same time.”

The first couple of years of any administration are intense, especially in the transition from a Republican to a Democratic administration. That has been especially true at the Energy Department, which received tens of billions of dollars in stimulus funding to dispense. ….

Energy Department changes continue as heads of nuclear, coal offices depart – The Hill’s E2-Wire

October 5, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy