WASHINGTON — Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who won a Nobel Prize in physics but came under questioning for his handling of a solar-energy loan, is stepping down.
Chu offered his resignation to President Barack Obama in a letter Friday. He said he will stay on at least until the end of February and may stay until a successor is confirmed.
Chu’s departure had been widely expected and follows resignation announcements by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The White House said no decisions have been made on replacements for any of the environment and energy jobs but said Obama’s priorities will remain unchanged. Potential replacements for Chu include former Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and former Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire.
Obama said in a statement Friday that Chu brought a “unique understanding of both the urgent challenge presented by climate change and the tremendous opportunity that clean energy represents for our economy.”
During his tenure, Chu helped move the country toward energy independence, Obama said, referring to billions of dollars in Energy Department loans to boost renewable energy such as wind and solar power.
Chu, 64, a former director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in California, had little political experience before taking the energy post in 2009.
He drew fire from congressional Republicans who criticized his handling of a $528 million federal loan to solarpanel maker Solyndra, which later went bankrupt, laying off its 1,100 workers. Republicans said Chu and other Energy Department officials missed many warning signsabout problems at Solyndra and compounded them by approving a restructuring of the loan even after problems were discovered.
Solyndra was the first renewable-energy company to receive a loan guarantee under the 2009 stimulus law, and the Obama administration frequently promoted the company as a model for its clean energy program. Chu attended a 2009 groundbreaking when the loan was announced, and Obama visited the company’s Fremont, Calif., headquarters the next year.
The company’s implosion in 2011 and revelations that the administration hurried a review of the loan in time for the groundbreaking become an embarrassment for Chu and Obama and a rallying cry for GOP critics of the administration’s “green”-energy program.
Lawmakers also criticized Chu for approving the plan to restructure Solyndra’s debt so that two private investors moved ahead of taxpayers for repayment in case of default.
Chu defended the Solyndra loan during a sometimes testy hearing in late 2011. While calling the ultimate outcome “regrettable,” Chu said the loan was subject to “proper, rigorous scrutiny and healthy debate” before it was approved in 2009.
One of his accomplishments was something that Chu rarely talked about but was frequently cited by Obama: Chu’s role in helping to plug the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Chu and a team of engineers helped devise an interim solution before a replacement well permanently plugged the leak, which spewed more than 200 million gallons of oil in the worst offshore oil disaster inthe country’s history.
Chu also played a key role in the U.S. response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, as well as an Obama administration decision to kill a planned nuclear waste dump at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain.
Meanwhile, Hillary Rodham Clinton formally resigned Friday as America’s secretary of state, capping a four-yeartenure that saw her shatter records for the number of countries visited. John Kerry was sworn in to replace her.
In a letter sent to Obama shortly before she left the State Department for the last time in her official capacity, Clinton thanked her former opponent for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination for the opportunity to serve in his administration. Clinton said it had been an honor to be part of his Cabinet.
Her resignation became effective at 3 p.m. CST, when Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan swore in Kerry as the top U.S. diplomat. The former Massachusetts senator and 2004 presidential candidate is the 68th secretary of state.
Clinton left office with a slap at critics of the Obama administration’s handling of the September attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya. She said in an interview Thursday that critics of the administration’s handling of the attack don’t live in an “evidence-based world,” and their refusal to “accept the facts” is unfortunate and regrettable for the political system.
In other developments, the White House on Friday dismissed criticism of Chuck Hagel’s hesitant congressional testimony and insisted that it expects the Senate to confirm him as defense secretary.
One day after Hagel was roughed up in a grueling confirmation hearing, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Hagel did a “fine job” and the Obama administration would be stunned if Republicans tried to block the nomination of a decorated Vietnam combat veteran and former two-term GOP senator.
Hagel seemed ill-prepared under withering cross-examination from Armed Services Committee Republicans in nearly eight hours of testimony. He was repeatedly pressed about past statements and votes on Israel, Iran and nuclear weapons.
Information for this article was contributed by Bradley Klapper, Matthew Lee, Andrew Taylor and Donna Cassata of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 2 on 02/02/2013