President Bush last Tuesday tapped Joseph T. Kelliher for a second term on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and to continue as chairman of the agency.

Kelliher’s current term on the Commission, which began in November 2003, expires on June 30 (see NGI, Nov. 10, 2003). The White House forwarded Kelliher’s nomination last Wednesday to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction. The nomination is for a five-year term at the agency that would expire on June 30, 2012.

A former Capitol Hill staffer and senior policy advisor at the Department of Energy, Kelliher assumed the reins at FERC in July 2005, taking over from then-Chairman Pat Wood.

Kelliher, a Republican, appears to have a good relationship with Capitol Hill lawmakers, and is expected to be easily approved when his nomination comes before the Senate for a vote.

The fact that Congress is now controlled by Democrats is not expected to pose a problem, said Martin Edwards, vice president of legislative affairs for the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America.

“I don’t think it’s going to have any material affect” on Kelliher’s nomination, he said. Edwards noted that Kelliher had bipartisan support from lawmakers in 2003. And since then, he has been “sensitive and respectful” of the views of Democrats.

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