President Obama Wednesday sent three energy-related nominations — one for the Department of Interior and two for the Department of Energy (DOE) — to the Senate for consideration, and formally withdrew the nomination of Ron Binz to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Obama nominated Jonathan Elkind of Maryland to be an assistant secretary of DOE’s International Affairs, succeeding David B. Sandalow, who recently resigned; Joseph S. Hezir of Virginia as CFO of DOE, replacing Steven Jeffrey Isakowitz, who also resigned; and Rhea Sun Suh to be assistant secretary for Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife, succeeding Thomas L. Strickland.

The nominations will be considered by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over most energy issues on Capitol Hill.

The president notified the Senate of Binz’ decision to withdraw his nomination nearly a month ago, due mostly to the controversy over the former Colorado regulator’s pro-renewable and anti-fossil fuel sentiments (see Daily GPI, Oct. 2).