The White House this week forwarded to the Senate the nomination of former New Mexico regulator Suedeen G. Kelly for a seat on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The move comes three months after President Bush announced his intention to tap Kelly, a Democrat, for the five-member federal regulatory agency (see Daily GPI, March 11).

A spokeswoman for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over FERC nominations, said Wednesday it still was awaiting paperwork (FBI background check) on the nominee from the White House. Once that is received and is determined to be in order, she noted the committee will schedule a confirmation hearing probably for mid-July.

The latest action could help grease the way for FERC Republican nominee Joseph T. Kelliher, whose nomination has been hanging in limbo since March. Some Senate Democrats, most notably Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), vowed to block Kelliher until the White House nominated Kelly or another Democrat for the Commission. They want the Senate to vote on the two nominees as a package deal.

But even with Kelly’s nomination now at Capitol Hill, Kelliher — a senior policy advisor at the Department of Energy (DOE) — faces other problems. Two senators, Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), in March placed “holds” on Kelliher’s nomination, which essentially froze the process and prevented the full Senate from confirming him until their concerns were met (see Daily GPI, March 24). Wyden’s office said the senator’s hold still remains in place, but the status of Cantwell’s hold was not immediately known.

If confirmed by the Senate, Kelly would fill out the remaining term of former FERC Chairman Curt Hebert Jr., who left the commission in the summer of 2001. That term would expire on June 30, 2004. She currently is an attorney and a professor of law at the University of New Mexico School of Law. Kelliher is seeking the seat formerly held by Commissioner Linda K. Breathitt, who departed the agency in December. His term would run until June 30, 2007.

Kelliher is one step further along than Kelly in the confirmation process, having had his nomination approved by the Senate Energy Committee in mid-March (see Daily GPI, March 13).

Meanwhile, the ranks are thinning at FERC. The term of Commissioner William Massey, the sole Democrat on the Commission, is due to expire at the end of the month. But he will be able to continue to serve until either the end of the current congressional session in October, or until the Senate approves a successor.

Massey, who has served on the Commission since 1993, has signaled that he is interested in staying on at FERC for a third term, but there has been no word from the White House on whether it intends to re-nominate him (see Daily GPI, Feb. 27).

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