Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner Marc Spitzer said Monday he will be stepping down from his post Wednesday after completing a five-year term on the Commission. Spitzer’s term expired on June 30, but in the absence of a replacement he is empowered to continue in the post until Congress goes into recess at the end of the year.

Republican Spitzer has been known for emphasizing a cooperative, bipartisan approach to energy issues and has been supportive of the shale gas revolution and its impact on the electric power industry.

“Everyone is looking at the impacts of natural gas-fired generation plant in relation to growing use of intermittent renewable resources, such as wind. And there have already been some coal-to-gas substitutions. FERC restructured the natural gas industry and as a result we have a more market-based industry today,” Spitzer told an audience at a conference earlier this year.

The former chairman of the Arizona Corporation Commission has not said what his plans are for the future. Spitzer’s departure leaves the Commission with three Democrats and one Republican. According to FERC rules, his successor would have to be a Republican or an independent. With a clear Democratic majority, the president has not been in a hurry to nominate a replacement.

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