WASHINGTON, DC – Two senior members of the Department of Energy announced that they will resign their positions in the coming weeks.  Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs Jill Sigal has been with the Department since July 2003.  She will be leaving to join EnergySolutions as Senior Vice President for Government Relations.  Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Jeffrey Jarrett, who joined the Department in January 2006, has accepted the position of executive director of Coal-Based Generation Stakeholders.

Department of Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman made the following statement on the departures:

“It is always difficult to lose good people, however the Department of Energy and the country are better off having had Jill and Jeff serve.”

“From the very beginning of my tenure as the Secretary of Energy, Jill has been a loyal and trusted advisor.  She was a leader in the Department’s efforts to pass the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and she was instrumental in negotiating and having Congress pass the Department’s top environmental cleanup priorities.  Her professional relationships with Members of Congress and congressional staff have enabled the Department to accomplish many of its priorities.  I have come to rely on Jill’s advice on a range of issues including energy security, nuclear energy, environmental management and national security.  I wish her, her husband Bob and their family the best in the years to come.”

“The Department of Energy has benefited greatly from Jeff’s leadership of our fossil fuels program. He has overseen the impressive progress made in our high priority carbon sequestration research and development program, and on the FutureGen project to build and demonstrate a virtually emissions free coal-based power plant by the year 2012. At the same, time he has overseen the continuing expansion of the Nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  In his role as my chief advisor on fossil fuels policies and programs, Jeff’s clear-headed and cogent views have been a great help to me. I wish him and his family the very best.”

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Craig Stevens, (202) 586-4940