An energy policy analyst is concerned with one of the potential replacements for Energy Secretary Steven Chu.
Several organizations and news outlets are reporting the notion that President Obama will be replacing Steven Chu. Politico, for instance, thinks the entire Obama energy team may be shuffled.
Secretary Chu has specifically been heavily criticized for comments he made in 2008 about the need for U.S. gas prices to be on the same level as Europe. More recently, Chu has stated that he does not own a car, though The Daily Caller reports that his wife does — a 2002 BMW 325i, complete with a six-cylinder engine that requires premium gasoline.
Meanwhile, the half-billion-dollar loan guarantee to now bankrupt Solyndra still remains fresh on the minds of Americans.
Possible Chu replacements reportedly include Obama supporters like Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers and Kathleen McGinty, the Clinton-era chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Cathy Zoi, former CEO of Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection, could also be in the running.
Emily Wismer, policy analyst for the Independent Women's Forum (IWF), is not fond of that idea.
"Cathy Zoi would probably be the most concerning, given her history of being very anti-private sector growth and her focus on industries that are less sustainable in the long-run," Wismer notes.
In addition to working with Gore, Zoi is also the former assistant secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) at the U.S. Department of Energy. But her current employer, Silver Lake Kraftwerk, has ties to left-leaning billionaire George Soros — another connection that may not set well with some conservatives and Republicans.
"Anytime that you have a replacement process, there [are] a lot of ups and downs, and they'll go through the complete process of deciding that. But the person that concerns me the most would probably be Zoi," Wismer states.