FERC announced Tuesday that it is reorganizing the Office of Market Oversight and Investigations (OMOI), which was established by former Chairman Pat Wood in 2002, into the Office of Enforcement, with four divisions — enforcement, audits, financial regulation and energy market oversight.

Susan J. Court, who was named director of OMOI last November, will head up the Office of Enforcement. Robert Pease will be director of the enforcement division; Bryan Craig will be director of audits; Janice Garrison Nicholas will become director and chief accountant of financial regulation; and Stephen Harvey will be director of energy market oversight.

Court, a 23-year veteran of the agency, said the planned new structure would offer a more balanced approach to the organization of the Office of Enforcement, and added that she still plans to increase the office’s staffing by 25-30%. OMOI currently has 130 employees. Court is scheduled to hold a press conference Wednesday to provide more details on the pending restructuring.

The OMOI unit conducts extensive investigations of energy market activity and prepares regular reports for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Congress. The Commission’s enforcement responsibilities were broadened by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that was enacted into law last August. The new law gave the agency enhanced authority to police against market manipulation and expanded FERC’s authority to impose civil penalties of up to $1 million a day per violation.

The OMOI, which began operating in August 2002, was established in the wake of Capitol Hill’s criticism of the agency’s lax policing of the energy industry over the years.

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