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Obama names energy secretary, environmental team
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-16 09:28 WASHINGTON – US President-elect Barack Obama on Monday chose a Nobel physics laureate to be his energy secretary and picked a former top federal environmental regulator to coordinate his energy and environmental policies.
Chu will work closely with Carol Browner, former head of the Environmental Protection Agency under Bill Clinton, who Obama said will coordinate White House policy on energy and climate change among various federal agencies.
Obama's energy and environmental team will play a major role in his quest to revive the US economy by boosting renewable energy use and creating millions of "green" jobs that will ease America's reliance to foreign oil.
"To control our own destiny, America must develop new forms of energy and new ways of using it," he said. Obama pointed out that over the last three decades other US presidents have pledged to make America less dependent on foreign energy supplies. "This time has to be different. This time we cannot fail, nor can we be lulled into complacency simply because the price at the pump has for now gone down from $4 a gallon," he said. Obama's energy and environment team will also be charged with developing policies to reduce carbon emissions blamed for global warming. In a meeting last week with former Vice President Al Gore, Obama said attacking global climate change was a "matter of urgency" that would create jobs. Obama hopes addressing climate change can create jobs that will help pull the US economy out of a deepening recession. He has begun to lay out plans for a massive recovery plan to stimulate the economy and create about 2.5 million jobs -- a portion of them so-called "green jobs." Browner, a principal at global strategy firm The Albright Group LLC, was the longest-serving administrator of the EPA. Chu would be the first Asian-American to lead the energy department.
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