“We have a problem and we’ve got to get it solved. The politics of energy are such that it actually shouldn’t be a political question. Let’s get to a different point in the discussion about what American needs, and what this country really needs is something where it doesn’t really matter whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat. … California went through that transition in the 1970s. That’s why their per capita energy use has remained flat over the years, because both parties became convinced that this was something that was very important. I think a similar feeling has to emerge in the general population of the United States, that this is a problem. Our national security, our economic prosperity, our climate issues are really not ultimately political questions.”
— Energy Secretary Steven Chu, responding to a question on the political challenges of crafting energy and climate policy, at the Newsweek Energy Independence 2020 summit
