Pena tabs deputy as possible successor

Monday, April 13, 1998 | 10:03 a.m.

Deputy Department of Energy Secretary Elizabeth A. Moler has been mentioned by outgoing Energy Secretary Federico Pena as a possible replacement.

Pena said earlier this month he plans to leave the secretary's post June 30. He described Moler as "a very competent person.

"I'm sure her name will be among the names of others to be considered by the president," Pena said.

Moler almost became energy secretary after President Clinton's re-election. Presidential aides told the press the day before he finished his second-term Cabinet that Moler would get the job.

However, that evening Clinton changed his mind after he came under fire for not having any Hispanics in his proposed Cabinet. Moler was dropped and Pena, a Hispanic who had resigned as Clinton's first-term transportation secretary, was asked to stay as energy secretary for at least a year.

Pena acknowledged he had virtually no experience in energy matters. Moler, meanwhile, was given the deputy energy secretary's post, the second highest position in the DOE.

Moler, who is from Ogden, Utah, served from 1988 until 1997 on the Federal Regulatory Commission, which regulates interstate gas and power lines, hydroelectric dams and other energy facilities. She was chairwoman of FERC from 1993 until 1997.

Before joining FERC, Moler also worked on energy issues as counsel to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Moler served as an aide on that committee to the late Sen. Henry Jackson, D-Wash., and J. Bennett Johnston, D-La., author of the "Screw Nevada Bill" that focused the DOE's attention on Yucca Mountain as the potential national high-level nuclear waste dump.

Sens. Richard Bryan and Harry Reid, both D-Nev., said they would be very cautious in whom they supported for the energy secretary's position.

As Pena announced his resignation, he said the biggest challenge facing his successor is nuclear waste disposal.

The DOE is expected to report to Congress later this year on the viability of the site, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. This assessment would allow the DOE to begin a formal environmental impact statement on the site, preparing for a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the year 2002.

The Nevada Test Site, bordering Yucca Mountain on its eastern side, has been proposed as a temporary nuclear waste storage area, but Clinton has vowed to veto any temporary radioactive waste storage in Nevada.