In what could be called a dark horse choice following weeks ofspeculation that one of several energy heavyweights would be tappedto fill the Energy Department Cabinet seat for President-electGeorge W. Bush, former Michigan Sen. Spencer Abraham (R) wasnominated to serve as energy secretary yesterday. Abraham wasdefeated last November in his first re-election bid.

“Sen. Abraham knows the issues of energy policy, and heunderstands the issues and challenges before us,” said Bush. “He isready to join us in seeking energy security for the United States.National security depends on energy security.” Bush said it was a”testament to the special place that America is, that a grandson ofpoor Lebanese immigrants” will serve in the Cabinet.

“Many significant Energy Department issues face us at this time,ranging from the adequacy of supply, to affordability, to thedevelopment of new technologies, to the issue of security at ourfacilities, and more,” said Abraham. “I look forward to helping thepresident-elect effectively address these challenges in the daysahead.”

Sen. Frank H. Murkowski (AK), who chairs the Senate Committee onEnergy and Natural Resources, called the 48-year-old Abraham’sselection “great.”

He said, “The Energy Department is a difficult one to manage,but I have every confidence that Sen. Abraham is up to the job.”Murkowski has been critical of the lack of an energy policy in theClinton administration, and has been working on an energy packageto send to Congress in the new session.

Saying he will give Abraham his support and confidence,Murkowski said, “I look forward to working with the newadministration and with the new secretary to produce an energypolicy that maintains a balanced use of all our resources whileworking on conservation and moving to alternative fuels andrenewable energy.”

Although the title of energy secretary appears to carry a lot ofweight, this actually has not been the case since the Cabinet-levelpost was formed in 1977. Its actual mission is to “foster a secureand reliable energy system that is environmentally and economicallysustainable, to be a responsible steward of the nation’s nuclearweapons, to clean up our own facilities and to support continuedU.S. leadership in science and technology.”

For instance, current Energy Secretary Bill Richardson has beencaught up in nuclear safety at facilities in New Mexico along withmany nuclear waste depository issues. However, the energysecretary’s role may evolve and take on greater importance in thenext administration.

Abraham has not been directly involved in energy issues, eitherwith his work as a U.S. senator or before then. He was the firstMichigan Republican elected to the Senate in 22 years. In his oneSenate term, he served on the Senate’s Budget Committee as well asthe Judiciary Committee, where he chaired the subcommittee onimmigration. He also served on the Commerce, Science andTransportation Committee where he chaired the subcommittee onmanufacturing and competitiveness. He also was a member of theSmall Business Committee.

Along with his Senate committee assignments, Abraham was amember of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control andwas on the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

In his sparse energy-related voting record, Abraham votedagainst keeping automobile fuel efficiency standards in September1999, a vote not surprising considering he represented the largestautomobile-manufacturing state in the country. He also voted yes onmore funding for forest roads and fish habitat (September 1999);defunding renewable and solar energy (June 1999); transportationdemonstration projects (March 1998); and approving a nuclear wastedepository (April 1997).

A Michigan native, Abraham attended Michigan State Universityand then Harvard Law School, where he founded the FederalistSociety and a conservative law journal. At 30, he became aRepublican state chairman, and then in 1990, he joined formerPresident George Bush’s administration as deputy chief of staff toformer Vice President Dan Quayle.

Skip Horvath, president of the Natural Gas Supply Association(NGSA), said he thought Bush’s selection of Abraham for DOE was agood pick. “I think he’s going to be good. He comes from a state[Michigan] that is an energy-producing state, so he understands theproducing issues pretty well,” he noted. In addition to producers,”his state really represents all of the other interests of thenatural gas industry” — distribution, pipelines and storage.

Horvath disagreed with critics of Bush’s choice for DOE, manywhom cited the former senator’s lack of direct experience withenergy issues. “Somebody from Michigan has energy experience bydefinition because his state has all the components of the naturalgas industry” within its boundaries, he said. “So we think he’spretty well rounded.”

Bush also selected Norman Mineta, current secretary of thecommerce department, to be secretary of the Department ofTransportation, which oversees the Office of Pipeline Safety.

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