John Barrasso: “I come to the floor today in opposition to the nomination of Dr. Asmeret Berhe, who has been nominated to serve as the…”

“I come to the floor today in opposition to the nomination of Dr. Asmeret Berhe, who has been nominated to serve as the Director of the Office of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the Nation's largest Federal sponsor of basic research in physical sciences. Its mission is to advance the energy, economic, and national security of the United States. This job, this mission to advance the energy, economic, and national security of the United States is one that I view as very critical. Dr. Berhe has been a professor of soil biogeochemistry--soil biogeochemistry--at the University of California Merced for over a decade. Now, she has focused her research on soil management and sequestering carbon in the soil. Her background and her experience have very little to do with the Department of Energy's main scientific focus. A May 9, 2001, op-ed in the Wall Street Journal by a physicist whose expertise is theoretical physics has noted: Ms. Berhe's research program on soil chemistry, exploring the capture of carbon dioxide, is relevant to climate-change policy. But her research expertise isn't in any of the Office of Science's major programs, and she has no experience as a scientific administrator and minimal experience with the Energy Department itself. So not that there is anything wrong with her underlying experience to do other things, but for this specific position, the qualifications just aren't there. Dr.…”