Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Samuel W. Bodman, former chairman of chemical-maker Cabot Corp., was nominated by President George W. Bush to be energy secretary.

Bodman, 66, would replace Spencer Abraham, who announced he was resigning Nov. 15, and take over the task of passing energy legislation. The president's energy bill, designed to promote domestic oil and gas drilling, stalled in the Senate this year.

Bodman left Boston-based Cabot to join the U.S. Commerce Department. He became deputy Treasury secretary in February. He began his career as a chemical engineering professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then moved to FMR Corp., parent of Fidelity Investments, rising to president in 1983.

``We will continue to work closely with Congress to produce comprehensive legislation that moves America toward greater energy independence,'' Bush said at the announcement in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. ``We will bring greater certainty of costs and supply, and that certainty is essential to economic growth and job creation.''

Bush's second-term Cabinet will include nine new people. In the past six weeks, the president accepted the resignations of Secretary of State Colin Powell and Attorney General John Ashcroft. Bush nominated National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to take Powell's job and White House counsel Alberto Gonzales to replace Ashcroft.

The president has yet to announce a replacement for Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, the only position in the 15-member Cabinet still in question.

Energy Challenges

Bodman's scientific experience will help focus attention on technologies for generating coal-fired electricity with less pollution, Jack Gerard, chief of the National Mining Association said in a statement.

The new energy secretary will also play a role in efforts to license and build the first new nuclear reactor in the U.S. since 1973. The energy department is also expected next year to ask the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for authority to open the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Nevada.

``The majority of the budget of DOE has to do with nuclear weapons cleanup,'' said Branko Terzic, a former member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission who now is regulatory policy leader at Deloitte & Touche LLP. ``That's a highly technical area.''

Under Abraham, 52, the department pushed to make voluntary reliability rules for utilities mandatory and to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, initiatives that failed to pass a Republican-controlled Congress.

Soaring Prices

Oil and natural-gas prices reached all-time highs during President Bush's first term, hurting profit for some chemical companies and other industries that use petroleum as a raw material. New York crude oil futures climbed to a record $55.67 a barrel on Oct. 25. Gas futures have averaged more than $6 per million British thermal units this year, triple the price in the 1990s.

Terzic said Bodman's chemical industry experience will be beneficial.

``His combination of a financial background in Commerce and Treasury will be helpful in an era when energy prices are a major issue and concern both internationally and here in the U.S.,'' he said. ``Energy's a large input for many industries in their cost of production.''

Republicans, with majorities in the House and Senate, failed to pass Bush's energy plan, which calls for more access to domestic oil and gas reserves, and were unsuccessful in opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration. With a gain of four Senate seats, Republicans are preparing for another push to pass the proposals.

`Point Man'

``The industry would like to renew the effort to get comprehensive energy legislation,'' said Donald Santa Jr., a former Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner and Senate energy committee staffer who's now president of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America.

The fact that Bodman's had ``firsthand experience with oil and gas issues means he'll be more effective as the administration's point man in getting that done,'' Santa said.

Bush nominated Bodman, then deputy Commerce secretary, as deputy Treasury secretary in October 2003 and he was confirmed in February. At Treasury, Bodman has concentrated on international tax matters and initiatives to stop terrorist financing. At Commerce, he supervised the department's $5 billion budget.

Bodman made almost no public appearances during his time at Treasury. In a March speech to the Tax Executive Institute, he offered support for Bush's tax cuts. ``Deficits do matter,'' Bodman said. ``But raising taxes is not that answer. Higher tax rates are a powerful disincentive for growth and would be the wrong medicine for our economy and its job-creating potential.''

To contact the Reporter on this Story: Jay Newton-Small in Washington at jnewtonsmall@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 10, 2004 15:17 EST