Department of Energy - Obama Presidency Oral History Department of Energy Index / Organizations Transcript Carol Browner ...working on power plants. You had the Department of Energy working on energy efficiency. You ha... Courtney Hight ...special assistant. So I interviewed at Department of Energy , and then I interviewed at CEQ, like... Frances Beinecke ...one of the things when I was on the Department of Energy Advisory Board with both Secretary Ch... ...or at the Interior Department or at the Department of Energy , all of the above. Particularly i... Gina McCarthy ...the difference between EPA and the Department of Energy , is that the Department of Energy ar... ...the Department of Energy, is that the Department of Energy are the folks that look at... Heather Zichal ...you know, for the Ag Department and the Department of Energy [DOE], to helping catalyze thes... ...and we were driving to a meeting at the Department of Energy with a bunch of utility CEOs. And o... ...you know, for the Ag Department and the Department of Energy [DOE], to helping catalyze thes... ...and we were driving to a meeting at the Department of Energy with a bunch of utility CEOs. And o... Kathleen Sebelius ...nuclear capabilities that are under the Department of Energy ,” which made perfectly good sense t... Lisa Jackson ...solution that got handed to the Department of Energy [DOE] and Steven Chu—great friend o... Nancy Sutley ...be at EPA. It couldn't just be at the Department of Energy or wherever. It really had to be withi... ...in buildings. It's still going strong. Department of Energy just had their annual Better Building... ...viewed it through their agency lens. Department of Energy was sort of promoting this. EPA wa... ...EPA regulation or one strategy at the Department of Energy ; that it really had to be this, no... ...EPA regulation or a policy at the Department of Energy ; that it really had to be across th... ...was a lot of interest, particularly at Department of Energy , in moving the nuclear technology fro... ...be at EPA. It couldn't just be at the Department of Energy or wherever. It really had to be withi... ...in buildings. It's still going strong. Department of Energy just had their annual Better Building... ...viewed it through their agency lens. Department of Energy was sort of promoting this. EPA wa... ...EPA regulation or one strategy at the Department of Energy ; that it really had to be this, no... ...EPA regulation or a policy at the Department of Energy ; that it really had to be across th... ...was a lot of interest, particularly at Department of Energy , in moving the nuclear technology fro... Show more... Steven Chu ...falls on your shoulders. The Department of Energy takes the director job very, ver... ...do? To put it crassly, it gave the Department of Energy three or four billion extra from it... ...budget. But in addition to that, the Department of Energy was asked to give advice on many othe... ...directly were not in the purview of the Department of Energy budget. So with that money, there was ... ...out—it was the biggest criticism of the Department of Energy , but one of the more successful one... ...was picked by the career people in the Department of Energy in the [George W.] Bush era, was th... ...that would have been run out of the Department of Energy , and that would create, essentially... ...would create, essentially, within the Department of Energy , a new, much riskier funding agency... ...as a member of the committee, to the Department of Energy to convince the then-secretary o... ...In any case, when I got to the Department of Energy , Sam Bodman said, “I'd love to, but m... ...people, I wanted to attract to the Department of Energy technical people who were really good... ...agencies, are not all centered in the Department of Energy . It's spread out among many, man... ...and the Senate would come to the Department of Energy . Because very early on, ... ...like efficiency regulations. The Department of Energy did the energy-efficiency regulator... ...they were using. I had a—within the Department of Energy , there's a part of it, it's thi... ...out.” Then, with the resources of the Department of Energy , you can start airlifting things, an... ...scary, and this was a bad thing for the Department of Energy . As we were making decisions, an... ...your own—both personal, but also the Department of Energy 's engagement with that? And tha... ...the end, it turns out being head of the Department of Energy was really good, because there came ... ...look at me, and some people at the Department of Energy said, “Steve, this is incredibl... ...such satisfying technical problems as Department of Energy secretary, right? It's a pretty amazin... ...and the US, and the role of the Department of Energy in these—in Copenhagen [Denmark], i... ...can't turn off those things. Again, the Department of Energy would say, “Okay, this is what we thin... ...you did in the administration, in the Department of Energy , and what has endured. What's th... ...were the best and brightest within the Department of Energy , and so why is all the praise going t... ...out at BP headquarters from the [ Department of Energy ] national labs [laboratories]. In th... ...it was all private enterprise. But the Energy Department has a coordinating role, which turn... ...What role and place did the Department of Energy , and you in particular, have as thi... ...centrally within the wheelhouse of the Department of Energy , and some of which are peripheral—wha... ...way, it's Interior. But Obama asked the Department of Energy to make recommendations on what shoul... ...Interior to no end that Obama went to Department of Energy ; because it was not in our purview... ...do it that is partially external to the Department of Energy , to get some unbiased people an... ...as well, and what was at stake. The Department of Energy was tickled pink and said, “Man thi... ...about the coordinating role of the Department of Energy . I was interested in whether that rol... ...think is specific to your tenure at the Department of Energy , or whether it's how the departmen... ...would hope that over the long term the Department of Energy would have a more important role t... ...falls on your shoulders. The Department of Energy takes the director job very, ver... ...do? To put it crassly, it gave the Department of Energy three or four billion extra from it... ...budget. But in addition to that, the Department of Energy was asked to give advice on many othe... ...directly were not in the purview of the Department of Energy budget. So with that money, there was ... ...out—it was the biggest criticism of the Department of Energy , but one of the more successful one... ...was picked by the career people in the Department of Energy in the [George W.] Bush era, was th... ...that would have been run out of the Department of Energy , and that would create, essentially... ...would create, essentially, within the Department of Energy , a new, much riskier funding agency... ...as a member of the committee, to the Department of Energy to convince the then-secretary o... ...In any case, when I got to the Department of Energy , Sam Bodman said, “I'd love to, but m... ...people, I wanted to attract to the Department of Energy technical people who were really good... ...agencies, are not all centered in the Department of Energy . It's spread out among many, man... ...and the Senate would come to the Department of Energy . Because very early on, ... ...like efficiency regulations. The Department of Energy did the energy-efficiency regulator... ...they were using. I had a—within the Department of Energy , there's a part of it, it's thi... ...out.” Then, with the resources of the Department of Energy , you can start airlifting things, an... ...scary, and this was a bad thing for the Department of Energy . As we were making decisions, an... ...your own—both personal, but also the Department of Energy 's engagement with that? And tha... ...the end, it turns out being head of the Department of Energy was really good, because there came ... ...look at me, and some people at the Department of Energy said, “Steve, this is incredibl... ...such satisfying technical problems as Department of Energy secretary, right? It's a pretty amazin... ...and the US, and the role of the Department of Energy in these—in Copenhagen [Denmark], i... ...can't turn off those things. Again, the Department of Energy would say, “Okay, this is what we thin... ...you did in the administration, in the Department of Energy , and what has endured. What's th... ...were the best and brightest within the Department of Energy , and so why is all the praise going t... ...out at BP headquarters from the [ Department of Energy ] national labs [laboratories]. In th... ...it was all private enterprise. But the Energy Department has a coordinating role, which turn... ...What role and place did the Department of Energy , and you in particular, have as thi... ...centrally within the wheelhouse of the Department of Energy , and some of which are peripheral—wha... ...way, it's Interior. But Obama asked the Department of Energy to make recommendations on what shoul... ...Interior to no end that Obama went to Department of Energy ; because it was not in our purview... ...do it that is partially external to the Department of Energy , to get some unbiased people an... ...as well, and what was at stake. The Department of Energy was tickled pink and said, “Man thi... ...about the coordinating role of the Department of Energy . I was interested in whether that rol... ...think is specific to your tenure at the Department of Energy , or whether it's how the departmen... ...would hope that over the long term the Department of Energy would have a more important role t... Show more... Arun Majumdar ...later served as undersecretary of the Department of Energy [DOE], and, even later, took on a... ...me, “You'll be running an agency in the Department of Energy ,” in 1985, I don't know what I woul... ...so, Steve asked me to join him in the Department of Energy as ARPA–E director. After that, once ... ...hearing in what is called—and the Department of Energy have people who understand the Hill... ...So I was coached by the people in the Department of Energy who prepared me in mock hearings calle... ...it's National Science Foundation [NSF], Department of Energy , National Institutes of Health. I ha... ...got two other solar programs in the Department of Energy . You've got the solar program in th... ...There needs to be coherence within the Department of Energy . So we basically said, There is goin... ...across departments? Within the Department of Energy , we wanted to make sure that ARPA–E i... ...internal explaining to do, within the Department of Energy . In every workshop that we had pu... ...were very well coordinated within the Department of Energy . And we call that in-reach. That wa... ...to have partnerships outside the Department of Energy also. And my closest partnership wa... ...to engage with the career staff in the Department of Energy as a partnership. They need to see ... ...are some amazing career staff in the Department of Energy . And they realized that their job i... ...part of a national lab before going to Department of Energy , so I was dealing with them. I wa... ...was doing? It wasn't natural for the Department of Energy necessarily to be involved. So can yo... ...back to the department, and it wasn't a Department of Energy thing, but we said, “Okay, let's put ... ...decisions. So I think in the case of Department of Energy , while it is called the Department o... ...of Energy, while it is called the Department of Energy , it has a network of seventeen amazin... ...The Human Genome Project started in the Department of Energy . People forget that. So it goes in th... ...and everything else. So I think the Department of Energy should be thought of as the scientifi... ...you're going to lean back on the Department of Energy and the national labs, and its academi... ...support that. And that came back to the Department of Energy and came back to the labs. Any kind o... ...knowledge, and you would need the Department of Energy then. In the case of COVID, th... ...compared to many other agencies, the Department of Energy did fairly well. Yes, there wer... ...off to the people who were running the Department of Energy for the last four years. And there wa... ...imagine. We need to reimagine what the Department of Energy ought to be to address those importan... ...we spent a lot of time reimagining the Department of Energy . I call it—it's not just an agenc... ...will be executed now by the team at the Department of Energy . But it is extremely ambitious, as i... ...environmental-justice activity in the Department of Energy ? And yes, there is an office. But it'... ...we supporting? It's a human issue. The Department of Energy is dealing with Americans, citizens... ...example, there were programs in the Department of Energy that addressed weatherization of homes... Show more... Load more Transcripts Related Topics go to the Healthcare Healthcare go to the Climate, Environment, and Energy Climate, Environment, and Energy Agriculture Coming soon Counterterrorism Coming soon Russia Coming soon