What Does the Secretary of Energy Do?

The Division of Vitality, the twelfth Cupboard-level division, was established in 1977 in the course of the Carter administration. The division’s mission was to supervise the event and testing of the nation’s nuclear weapons and coordinate the assorted, loosely organized power applications established by the federal authorities. Right now, the place additionally manages the nation’s power infrastructure and funds scientific analysis associated to power manufacturing and distribution.

Till the Nineteen Seventies, the federal government took a comparatively hands-off strategy to power manufacturing and coverage, however the power disaster of the mid-Nineteen Seventies modified all of that. The Division of Vitality was created to handle the issue and develop a complete nationwide power plan that included nuclear power expertise.

The Present Secretary of Vitality

In December 2020, then-President-elect Joe Biden nominated former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm because the nation’s sixteenth secretary of power. She was confirmed on Feb. 25, 2021, and sworn into workplace later that day.

Granholm was preceded by Texas businessman Dan Brouillette because the nation’s fifteenth secretary of power. He had served since December 2019. Previous to that, he was the deputy secretary of power from August 2017 to December 2019.

Selecting a Secretary of Vitality 

As with all Cupboard-level positions, the secretary of power is appointed by the president, confirmed by the Senate, and serves on the president’s discretion. Every president takes his personal strategy—some make political appointments, whereas others select candidates based mostly on specific data within the fields of science and power. Some are chosen for his or her government expertise in managing different authorities businesses. For instance:

• James Schlesinger, the primary secretary of power, was an economics Ph.D. who initially served below then-Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford as a funds director, director of central intelligence, and secretary of protection earlier than being appointed secretary of power by then-President Jimmy Carter.
• Federico Peña, then-President Invoice Clinton’s second power secretary, was the previous mayor of Denver earlier than being appointed to guide the Division of Transportation and, in the end, the Division of Vitality below Clinton.
• Samuel Bodman, appointed by then-President George W. Bush in 2005, was an MIT-educated physician of science in chemical engineering who additionally served as deputy secretary of each Treasury and Commerce earlier than assuming the highest job at Vitality.
• Steven Chu, then-President Barack Obama’s first secretary of power, earned a Ph.D. in physics from the College of California, Berkeley, the place he went on to show as a professor of physics and molecular biology earlier than accepting the secretary place in 2009.
• Rick Perry, confirmed by then-President Donald Trump, earned a B.S. in animal science from Texas A&M and served as governor of Texas from 1999 to 2015.
• Jennifer Granholm, former governor of Michigan, the place she promoted pro-green insurance policies for the auto trade, serves as power secretary within the Biden administration.

The Function of Secretary of Vitality 

The Division of Vitality is a sprawling paperwork, with over 100,000 federal and contract workers and a funds in extra of $64.7 billion for fiscal 12 months (FY) 2021. The division’s checklist of obligations contains the nation’s nuclear weapons applications, the Navy’s nuclear power program, power analysis and conservation, clear power applied sciences, and home power coverage. The Vitality Division spends extra on bodily science analysis than some other federal company, by way of the Nationwide Laboratories.

The secretary of power, together with assistants and undersecretaries, oversees all the Vitality equipment and portfolio. As well as, the division’s mission assertion contains “advancing the nationwide, financial and power safety of the US,” in addition to supporting revolutionary expertise to additional these objectives.

Maybe most significantly, the secretary advises the president on issues of power and nuclear safety and advances the president’s agenda and coverage aims.

Secretary of Vitality Wage

Like all federal workers, pay for Cupboard secretaries is ready by Title 5 of the US Code. Cupboard officers are designated as Stage 1 of the Govt Schedule, which carries an annual wage of $221,400 in 2021.

Cupboard secretaries serve on the request of the president. They don’t seem to be appointed to set phrases like appointees to federal boards such because the Nationwide Labor Relations Board, the place every member serves a five-year time period.

Key Factors in Secretary Historical past 

The primary secretary of power, James Schlesinger, was a Republican nominated by then-President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. Schlesinger was the one individual ever dismissed from the place. Hazel O’Leary, who served as secretary of power below then-President Invoice Clinton, was the primary girl to carry the place. She was additionally the primary African American to tackle the function. Dan Brouillette was the shortest-serving secretary of power in latest historical past, lasting simply 14 months within the function within the Trump administration. Steven Chu was the longest, serving below then-President Barack Obama from January 2009 by way of April 2013.