» Obama nominates physicist to energy job

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Monday nominated Ernest Moniz as the nation’s next secretary of energy, describing the MIT scholar and former Department of Energy official as “a brilliant scientist” who would help enhance America’s energy portfolio.

Moniz, 69, oversees MIT’s Energy Initiative, a research group that focuses on innovative ways to produce power while curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

But unlike outgoing Energy Secretary Steven Chu, he is also well-versed in the ways of Washington, having served as the Energy Department’s undersecretary in the Clinton administration.

As energy secretary, Moniz would oversee the National Nuclear Security Administration, which has jurisdiction over Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories.

“I am interested in learning more about his history with New Mexico and our national labs through his earlier roles at DOE, and his outlook for the future,” said Sen. Tom Udall, a Democrat and the state’s senior senator.

Moniz served as undersecretary of energy from 1997 until 2001.

In 1999, he led a comprehensive review of the nation’s nuclear stockpile stewardship program under then-Secretary Bill Richardson, who went on to serve two terms as governor of New Mexico.

Richardson could not be reached for comment Monday.

Moniz’s review of the stockpile stewardship program said in part that “the U.S. nuclear deterrent remains a supreme national interest of the United States.” Moniz also served as Richardson’s special negotiator for Russian nuclear materials disposition programs.

That experience could be crucial as the U.S. and Russia implement the New START accord calling for bilateral reductions in each country’s nuclear stockpile.

Chu leaves the DOE with a mixed legacy. Many clean energy advocates praise his commitment to solar, wind and other renewable energy sources, but critics contend the DOE wasted billions under his tenure with loan guarantees to clean energy companies, such as the now-bankrupt Solyndra in California, that didn’t deliver promised results.

Moniz has advised Obama on central components of the administration’s energy plan, including a retooling of the country’s stalled nuclear waste program, energy research and development, and natural gas fracking, or injecting fluid into rocks to extract the fuel.

Some in the environmental community assailed his appointment Monday, noting Moniz’s support for fracking. Moniz has said natural gas offers an appealing “bridge” from the present-day, heavy reliance on fossil fuels to the cleaner, renewable energies of the future.

New Mexico’s U.S. senators praised Moniz’s appointment but stopped short of pledging their vote for his confirmation.

Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., said Muniz’s scientific experience and public service make him “well-qualified” for the job of energy secretary.

“I had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Moniz last year at MIT in his physics lab, and I’m encouraged by his thorough understanding and acumen of renewable energy development and research of low-carbon alternatives to fossil fuel,” Heinrich said.

“New Mexico’s Sandia and Los Alamos labs heavily depend on strong leadership from the Department of Energy, and I look forward to discussing with him our labs’ energy research and nuclear weapons stockpile programs.”

Joseph L. Cecchi, a professor of chemical and nuclear engineering at the University of New Mexico and formerly of Princeton University, served on the board of Moniz’s MIT Energy Initiative in 2011-2012. Cecchi told the Journal on Monday that Moniz has the right skills for the job.

“He has extremely broad technical knowledge across the entire spectrum of energy, sustainability, and related areas,” Cecchi said in an email. “He has carefully laid out a strategy of embracing many diverse elements to the sustainable energy problem — for example, renewables, like solar and wind, nuclear, natural gas as a lower-carbon fossil alternative (a near-term bridge to a more completely sustainable future), along with things like the smart grid and carbon capture and sequestration.”

Cecchi also suggested Moniz would be effective in pushing the DOE agenda on Capitol Hill and across America.

“Ernie has exceptional political acumen … and will be very effective in using the bully pulpit,” Cecchi said.

In a 2009 alumni interview published on Boston College’s website, Moniz noted that he learned to balance political and scientific demands while working in the Clinton administration.

“Physics sometimes looked easy compared to doing the people’s business,” he said.