President Bush has named Samuel W. Bodman as secretary of energy. The former chairman and chief executive of the Cabot Corporation, a company that imported natural gas into the United States, 65 year-old Bodman is also a former professor of chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. If confirmed by the Senate, Bodman will succeed Spencer Abraham, who recently resigned the post. One of his first challenges will be pushing through comprehensive energy legislation that has stalled in Congress over the past two years, largely over opposition to proposals to drill for oil in Alaksa’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Utilities and energy trade groups are keen to see the legislation pass and see it as the best way to address the country’s growing energy supply issues.
