NEW : Obama lauds Steven Chu for plugging the the Gulf of Mexico oil leak . Chu says he will stay on until a few days or beyond . Chu , who turns 65 this month , was a leading advocate in the Obama administration for alternative energy development , making him a target of the fossil fuel industry and its conservative supporters in Congress . Chu is the Nobel Prize for Physics winning physicist . Critics blamed Chu for failed government investments in clean energy development .
NEW : Obama lauds Steven Chu for plugging the the Gulf of Mexico oil leak . Chu says he will stay on until a few days or beyond . Chu is the Nobel Prize for Physics winning physicist . Critics blamed Chu for failed government investments in clean energy development .