Chu takes balancing act to Capitol Hill

Washington: President-elect Barrack Obama's nominee for Energy secretary, Steven Chu, walked a fine line on Tuesday between his strong views on the need to combat climate change and the concern of some senators about his past criticism of coal use and endorsement of gasoline taxes.

Chu, who appeared before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, was asked about a comment he once made that "coal is my worst nightmare".

He however clarified before the panel that he did not favour a moratorium on coal and said he would seek and fund research on technologies so that the United States could continue to tap its abundant coal reserves.

Although Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who heads the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, once called for sharply raising gasoline taxes, on Tuesday he echoed Obama's comments that given the troubled economy, higher gasoline taxes are for now "off the table".

"It is now clear that if we continue on our current path, we run the risk of dramatic, disruptive changes to our climate in the lifetimes of our children and grandchildren," the physicist said.

But, he added, "at the same time, we face immediate threats to our economy and our national security that stem from our dependence on oil".