Commissioner William Massey is likely to have the shortest termas FERC chairman on record, with the Bush administration looking toreplace him with Commissioner Curt Hebert Jr. as acting chairmanpossibly as early as next week, according to a member of the Bushenergy transition team.

“I would tell him [Massey] not to move any furniture,” said therepresentative of the energy transition team, which met inWashington D.C. Wednesday for the first time. Massey, a Democrat,is expected to be appointed FERC chairman by the Clinton WhiteHouse on Friday, but the Bush administration plans to replace himwith a “Republican right away,” he said. Hebert is the soleRepublican on the Commission.

But this doesn’t mean that Hebert will be the Bush White House’schoice to head up FERC in the longer term. “All I am going to [say]is that I think it’s problematic at this time that he [Hebert] willbe chairman,” the transition team member noted. “I’m not going totell you that I’ll bet my paycheck that he won’t get the job, but Iwill bet something less than my paycheck.”

The musical chairs for FERC chairman began last week whencurrent Chairman James J. Hoecker announced that he would step downafter heading up the agency for more than three years. Hoecker’slast day at the Commission is today.

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