U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's resignation on Monday won't affect progress to bring the $900 million Rare Isotope Accelerator project to the university, MSU officials said.
Abraham, a 1974 MSU graduate, was formerly one of Michigan's two U.S. Senators and chairman of the Michigan Republican Party.
"The merit of MSU having (the Rare Isotope Accelerator) goes far beyond any geographical connection to MSU with the Secretary of Energy," university spokesman Terry Denbow said. "We've always based it on the merit of Michigan State University and not any relationships, as valued as those relationship have been."
The Rare Isotope Accelerator, or RIA, project would allow scientists to examine microscopic physical compounds not found on earth and would give MSU international clout in the field of nuclear physics. The U.S. Department of Energy makes the final decision.
Denbow said the university has spoken with Abraham about the project but also has worked with many other people in the Department of Energy. Abraham's office could not be reached for comment.
MSU's only competition for the project is the Argonne National Laboratory, located near Chicago.
Abraham is one of six Cabinet members that have stepped down since Bush's re-election.
"It's not untypical," said Norm Ornstein, a politics expert for the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research in Washington D.C. "There's kind of a lot of burnout. It's not a matter of that everybody wants to jump ship."
Abraham, 52, is married and has three children.
President Clinton had to replace nine of his 14-member Cabinet for his second term. President Reagan, also a two-term leader, made eight out of 13 cabinet changes. During his first term, President Bush added the Secretary of Homeland Security as a cabinet position.
Ornstein said he expects a total of eight or nine officials to leave the top ranks of the Bush administration.
Abraham was successful in playing a significant role in nuclear proliferation and its safety but was not able to push Congress into passing the administration's broad energy plan, Ornstein said.
The role of an energy secretary is difficult and broad, said Ken Rose, a senior fellow in MSU's Institute of Public Utilities and an energy consultant. He said the energy secretary deals with issues such as nuclear power, nuclear weapons, renewable energy, coal and oil policy.
"It's always changing," he said. "Like when things like the blackout came up."
In August 2003, a massive blackout affected large portions of the American Northeast and Canada. Rose said besides major crises, Abraham's successor will be responsible for dealing with U.S. dependence on foreign oil, rising natural gas prices and advocating the passage of the administration's energy plan in Congress. Rose said portions of the plan included using a gasoline addictive and allowing drilling in an Alaskan preserve.
"That had a lot of changes," he said. "A lot of it is very controversial."
