The new US Energy Secretary intends to keep federal research in his department strong and vibrant, he told employees on his first day on the job. "You all are brilliant, hard-working, dedicated Americans who care about the future of this country. My job is going to partly be listening to you and getting feedback from you," former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) declared on Mar. 3.
In an address to Department of Energy employees across the country as well as in Washington a day after the US Senate confirmed his nomination (OGJ Online, Mar. 2, 2017), Perry said that he did not appreciate DOE's importance until he became acquainted with its National Energy Technology Laboratories while he was governor when two universities in the state became involved in NETL projects.
"There are so many of you that have solutions to challenges we have, but maybe for whatever reason it just hasn't flowed up to the right place. I want you to know this office is going to be open to you, to your ideas, to the solutions, to the results that can really affect this country and this world we live in," Perry said.
DOE's energy research and development programs are exceptional because they explore seemingly unworkable concepts and find ways to move them toward commercialization, he indicated. That basically happened beginning in the 1980s when an NETL conducted basic research that helped Texas oil producer George P. Mitchell tap previously inaccessible deposits with hydraulic fracturing, a technology that literally changed global energy, Perry said.
"What's next? Is it in cybersecurity? Is it in supercomputing? Is it in something that even you haven't dreamed up yet? That's the exciting thing," he maintained. "Whether you're here in this auditorium or listening somewhere outside this building, I want you to know that I care about your ideas."
He also acknowledged DOE's other primary responsibility. "We have this extraordinarily sobering responsibility for the safety and modernization of a nuclear arsenal that has the potential to be as devastating as the world has ever seen," Perry said. "It's really, really powerful. We understand its importance. We take it extraordinarily seriously."
