With his family in tow, Energy Secretary Federico Pena announcedMonday he plans to leave the Department of Energy (DOE) forpersonal and family reasons effective June 30th, the news of whichelicited ho-hum reactions from the natural gas industry and spurredspeculation that Deputy Energy Secretary Elizabeth Moler willsucceed him.

While gas trade groups officially applauded Pena’s efforts atthe department, unofficially they sang a different tune. “What hashe done? Who cares?,” said one gas insider of Pena’s imminentdeparture. “The DOE was supposed to come out with electricitylegislation” during his one-and-a-half year tenure. Instead,”they’ve been completely stonewalled by the EPA. They came out withprinciples. They haven’t advanced the debate on restructuring oneiota.”

Apart from electricity reform, Pena’s leaving shouldn’t be asource of concern for natural gas since most of the key issues thatthe industry’s focusing on are at the Federal Energy RegulatoryCommission rather than at DOE, said John Sharp, director of federalaffairs for the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA). “Certainlyeveryone’s interested in their [DOE’s] electricity principles, butI think FERC is the place to be for gas.”

The timing of Pena’s departure – in the middle of electricityrestructuring – was criticized on Capitol Hill. “I’m verydisappointed by Secretary Pena’s resignation,” said Sen. FrankMurkowski (R-AK), chairman of the Senate Energy and NaturalResources Committee. He noted Pena’s imminent departure “may makeit difficult, especially for electric rate deregulation, to proceedthis year” in Congress. “It likely will take time for anyreplacement to fully understand the administration’s position andto get someone up to date on these issues.”

But many doubt this will be a concern should the Clintonadministration tap Moler as Pena’s successor. “To the extent thatshe is selected, I think she would be a fantastic secretary. Herdepth of energy knowledge and issues is very good. She would bemore than capable of being the steward of that agency,” Sharpremarked. In fact, energy sources initially had expected PresidentClinton to pick Moler to head up DOE during his second term, but hestunned everyone when, bowing to pressure from the Hispaniccommunity, he selected Pena – someone who had no experience inenergy – in December 1996. Moler, former FERC chair, accepted thejob of deputy energy secretary four months later, but it reportedlywas conditioned on assurances from the White House that she wouldsucceed Pena when he stepped down in mid-term.

“I think Betsy’s in a very good position given the fact thatshe’s over there [at DOE]; she’s running the show,” Sharp noted. Hedoubts the Clinton administration will pick a lightweight for thejob this time around because whomever’s chosen will have to seesome tough issues, such as electricity restructuring and nuclearwaste, down to the wire. Pena, who spoke with Moler over theweekend about his decision to resign, said he’s “very confident”that her name will be “right up there” as a possible successor. Headded that Clinton intends to proceed “very methodically” inchoosing his replacement.

There have been some reports that Moler has been disgruntledwith DOE’s lack of success on the restructuring front, and has beenshopping outside the agency – at various Washington D.C. law firms- for another job. “They’re doing a lot more interesting work interms of electric restructuring than she is at DOE,” an energysource said. But “I guess if she were offered this position [EnergySecretary], she would stay. It’s quite a resume builder.”

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