Yesterday President Obama announced two nominees for recently open science and technology positions. Given the current Senate backlog on nearly everything, expect these two to be sworn in sometime this summer at the earliest.
Ernest Moniz has been nominated to replace Steven Chu as Energy Secretary. Moniz has been on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for 40 years, and currently directs the Institute’s Energy Program. This will not be his first time at the Department, having served as Undersecretary of Energy from 1997 to 2001. He worked in the Office of Science and Technology Policy for two years prior to his first stint at the Department of Energy.
Gina McCarthy, currently running the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Office of Air and Radiation, was picked to serve as the new EPA Administrator. McCarthy came to the EPA in 2009 after decades of work in state environmental agencies in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
It is likely that any opposition to the two nominees will focus on disagreement’s with the President’s strategies for energy independence and environmental protection. With the possible exception of new Secretary of State John Kerry, there have been hurdles for each major Obama Administration nominee this term. I don’t expect either Moniz or McCarthy to be an exception.
Pasco Phronesis 