The education of Energy Secretary Steven Chu The imminent
departure of Energy Secretary Steven Chu highlights the
political struggle President Obama has faced in trying to enact
even a portion of the sweeping clean-energy and climate change
agenda he envisioned when he ran for the White House in 2008.
Obama tapped the Nobel physicist to lead his fight to stop
global warming and transform the nation’s energy economy but the
broad climate bill the president hoped would become part of his
legacy never made it through Congress and Chu later found
himself embroiled in the political controversy over the bankrupt
solar company Solyndra. Several people close to the
administration have said Chu was not planning to stay on in a
second Obama administration. Bloomberg reported on Thursday that
the secretary's departure could be announced as early as next
week. At the time Chu took the helm at the Energy Department, it
actually played very small role in shaping energy policy. Its
chief purview was to oversee the nation’s