<div><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/10/AR2008121003681.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/10/AR2008121003681.html</a></div>
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<div>Text below from article above:</div>
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<div>Chu, the son of Chinese immigrants, won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1997 for his work in the "development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light." But, in an interview last year with <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/The+Washington+Post+Company?tid=informline" target=""><font color="#0c4790">The Washington Post</font></a>, Chu said he began to turn his attention to energy and climate change several years ago. "I was following it just as a citizen and getting increasingly alarmed," he said. "Many of our best basic scientists [now] realize that this is getting down to a crisis situation." </div>
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<div>He sought and won the top job at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 2004, leaving the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Stanford+University?tid=informline" target=""><font color="#0c4790">Stanford University</font></a> faculty to focus on energy issues. Chu was in London last night and unavailable for comment, but the physicist has been, in the words of his Web site, on a "mission" to make the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory "the world leader in alternative and renewable energy research, particularly the development of carbon-neutral sources of energy." </div>
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<div>The Obama administration faces an unusually big agenda in this area. The president-elect is expected to tackle cap-and-trade legislation that would put a lid on and then lower greenhouse gas emissions. European governments are expecting him to do that before a crucial climate-change summit a year from now. Meanwhile, energy industries and environmental groups are lobbying on issues such as offshore drilling restrictions, permits for coal plant construction and expansion, nuclear reactor permits and loan guarantees, and tax breaks for renewable energy. </div>
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<p>In addition, the new administration has to figure out how to wield the power given to the EPA last year by a Supreme Court ruling that said carbon dioxide emissions should be considered a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. How the EPA uses that power could determine the fate of all sorts of energy-intensive projects. Yesterday, the EPA said it would not finalize rules on new electricity-generating units, disappointing industry lobbyists and punting the issue to the Obama administration. </p>
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<div>Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett</div>