By Michael T. Burr
As President-elect Obama’s cabinet takes shape, rumors are percolating about the person he’ll select for secretary of energy. What’s particularly notable from these rumors is that nobody seems to agree about the shortlist (see below).

This raises an interesting question: Why are so many people still considered candidates for this position? Is it because, as Energy Daily Editor George Lobsenz suggested in a November 25 column, DOE is a less important agency than, say, the departments of state or treasury, and therefore the Obama team hasn’t prioritized choosing a DOE secretary? Or is it just the opposite, and the Obama administration is planning a novel approach to the whole energy-policy arena?

“I’ve heard talk of creating a centralized energy counsel or energy czar position,” said Donna Attanasio, a partner with White & Case in Washington, D.C. “The Obama administration will need that in order to coordinate energy policy between different agencies, such as EPA, FERC and the CFTC.”

An energy czar might incorporate the climate czar position that former Vice President Al Gore reportedly declined in mid-November — or it might not. The energy czar probably would lead a new Energy Security Council, similar to the one proposed in a white paper written by John Podesta, leader of Obama’s transition team and former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton. Some sources consider Podesta a possible candidate for energy czar.

Additionally, DOE itself might be in for a major restructuring. One policy analyst – speaking on condition of anonymity – told Fortnightly, “Historically DOE hasn’t been at the heart of energy policy development. Dick Cheney drove energy policy in the Bush administration, and DOE today is primarily a nuclear-waste cleanup organization. If Obama wants the energy secretary to lead energy policy, then DOE needs to be transformed.”

What such a transformation might entail depends on many factors—perhaps most of all whom the president-elect will pick for DOE secretary and the prospective energy and climate czar(s).

With that in mind, and based on conversations with numerous policy analysts, Fortnightly has assembled its own (long) shortlist of candidates for DOE secretary and energy/climate czar. In the following alphabetical list, we’ve put an asterisk (*) by the candidates that seem the most plausible for DOE secretary, and two asterisks (**) by the names most likely to be named energy/climate czar.

Who will get the nod? Nobody knows, but if forced to predict, I’d guess the president-elect will pick Phil Sharp for DOE Secretary, and Jason Grumet will lead the Energy Security Council at its inception, turning it over to Arnold Schwarzenegger when his term as governor expires. That’s just a guess.

- *Jeff Bingaman, senator (D-N.M., chairman of Senate Energy Committee)
- *Rick Boucher, congressman (D-Va, chairman of House Energy & Air Quality subcommittee)
- **Carol Browner, former EPA chief in the Clinton administration, now principal in the Albright Group
- Chet Edwards, congressman (D-Texas, chairman of Defense Appropriations Committee)
- Nancy Floyd, founder and managing director of investment firm Nth Power
- Dick Gephardt, former congressman (D-Mo.)
- **Al Gore, former vice president and Nobel prize winner for his climate-change advocacy efforts (reportedly declined “climate czar” position)
- **Jason Grumet, a key energy adviser to Obama and executive director of the National Commission on Energy Policy
- Chuck Hagel, senator (R-Neb.)
- Jeff Immelt, CEO, General Electric
- Jay Inslee, congressman (D-Wash., member of House Energy & Commerce Committee)
- John Krenicki, president & CEO, GE Energy
- Jonathan Lash, president, World Resources Institute
- *Ed Markey, U.S. congressman (D-Mass., chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming)
- **Kathleen McGinty, former Pennsylvania environmental secretary and former chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality in the Clinton administration; reportedly a top candidate for EPA secretary
- *Ernest Moniz, professor of physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and former undersecretary in Clinton DOE
- Janet Napolitano, governor (D-Az.)—reportedly selected to head Department of Homeland Security
- Sam Nunn, former senator (D-Ga.)
- **John Podesta, Obama’s transition team leader and former chief of staff in Clinton administration
- *Dan Reicher, former assistant energy secretary in the Clinton administration, and now director of Google.org’s climate change and energy initiatives
- *Ed Rendell, governor (D-Pa.)
- Bill Richardson, governor (D-N.M.) and former DOE secretary in the Clinton administration—reportedly the top candidate to become Obama’s commerce secretary
- Bill Ritter, governor (D-Colo.)
- James Rogers, CEO, Duke Energy
- John Rowe, CEO, Exelon
- *Kathleen Sebelius, governor (D-Kansas)

- *Phil Sharp, former senator (D-Ind.) and now president of think tank Resources for the Future

- **Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor (R-Calif.)

- Fred Smith, CEO, Federal Express

- James Woolsey, former CIA director in the Clinton administration and energy adviser to Sen. John McCain during his presidential campaign

Posted: November 26th, 2008 under 2008 elections, DOE, Uncategorized, energy czar, energy policy, regulation.
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