Friday, January 18, 2013

Two More Obama Cabinet Members Stepping Down


Two More Obama Cabinet Members Stepping Down
Posted By: Jordon [Send E-Mail]
Date: Thursday, 17-Jan-2013 14:55:50
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Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar stepping down
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who led the response to the 2010 BP oil spill and administered a moratorium on offshore drilling, announced Wednesday that he is stepping down.
The former Colorado lawmaker plans to return home in March after eight turbulent and busy years in Washington, four years in the U.S. Senate and four years as head of the Interior Department.
President Obama nominated him for the Cabinet post four years ago and he was unanimously confirmed.
He was most prominent when he spearheaded the administration reaction to the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Salazar issued a six-month drilling moratorium after the April 20, 2010, explosion.
Critics, including Republican leaders, Gulf state officials and Gulf Coast residents, slammed the ban. They said it would hurt oil and gas workers in the already hard-hit coastal communities, where hundreds of jobs were lost because of the disaster.
But Salazar said the moratorium provided time to make sure that similar accidents wouldn't occur and that rig operators were prepared to deal with worst-case scenarios if they did happen again.
Eleven people died in the explosion, which spawned one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history. An estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil gushed into the Gulf before the broken well some 4,000 feet below the surface was capped.
More here: http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/16/politics/salazar-resigning/index.html
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Energy Secretary Chu Said to Plan Departure From Cabinet
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who drew criticism from Republicans over his support for loans to Solyndra LLC before the solar-panel maker went bankrupt, will leave his Cabinet post in President Barack Obama’s second term, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Chu’s departure will be announced as soon as next week, according to one of the people. Both requested anonymity to discuss personnel matters that haven’t been announced. The people didn’t identify potential replacements.
The exit will leave the Obama administration with vacancies at the top of the three departments that oversee energy and environmental policy. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Lisa Jackson, who headed the Environmental Protection Agency, have announced their intention to leave the administration.
Chu, 64, was a career scientist and co-winner of the Nobel Prize for physics when he joined the Cabinet in January 2009. Supporters said Chu brought a fresh perspective to discussions often dominated by politics in Washington.
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=266708

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