John Geesman, 51, a lawyer who previously served on the California Independent System Operator’s governing board, was named Thursday to an open seat on the California Energy Commission, which sites power plants and oversees energy resource planning and conservation programs. Gov. Gray Davis made the announcement, noting that this fills out the five-member commission that is based in Sacramento. It is the same agency that Geesman once headed as executive director.

Davis stressed that Geesman holds more than 25 years of experience as an attorney involved in energy policy. He once chaired the board of the now-defunct California Power Exchange and is the former chairman of the board of director’s for the state’s leading utility consumer watchdog group, TURN (The Utility Reform Network), based in San Francisco. Geesman was the top staff person at the energy commission from 1979 to 1983.

Geesman holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale and a law degree from Boalt Hall at the University of California, Berkeley. Generally, the state energy commission is looked to as California’s energy planning, policy and power plant siting agency. The commissioner jobs are full-time paid positions.

©Copyright 2002 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.