Appointed

Anthony Eggert was appointed by California Gov. Jerry Brown to the five-member California Energy Commission (CEC), a position he held last year in former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration. An engineer by background who previously worked for the California Fuel Cell Partnership and for Ford Motor Co., Eggert was a senior policy advisor at the California Air Resources Board from 2007 to early 2010. The appointment requires confirmation by the state Senate, but appointees can serve for up to a year without confirmation. Eggert’s appointment fills out the CEC, which had been operating in recent months with only four members.

The mayor of Dallas has directed city council to form a Gas Drilling Task Force and appointed a former council member to lead the body.

Following the resignation of Berkshire Hathaway billionaire Warren Buffett’s chief lieutenant, David Sokol, the leadership at MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. has appointed CEO Greg Abel chairman. Buffett said the conglomerate had been very successful in recent years in large part because of Sokol, calling his accomplishments “extraordinary,” and adding that Sokol and Abel “delivered the best performance of any managers in the public utility field.” Buffett stirred up Wall Street after the markets had closed Wednesday with the announcement that Sokol had submitted his resignation to strengthen his family’s financial resources. Buffett accepted the resignation, although twice in the past few years he and the Berkshire board had talked Sokol out of resigning. The resignation followed Berkshire’s March 13 announcement that it was buying specialty chemicals firm Lubrizol on the recommendation of Sokol, who purchased nearly 100,000 shares of the company for about $10 million earlier this year. Buffett said he learned about Sokol’s stock purchase March 19. While the stock purchase raised eyebrows on Wall Street, Sokol maintained that he had done nothing wrong regarding the Lubrizol acquisition — but told CNBC that if he had it to do over again, he would do things a bit differently. According to Buffett, before he overcame his skepticism and embraced the Lubrizol deal, he was leaning toward an acquisition by MidAmerican, which includes MidAmerican Energy Co., Kern River Gas Transmission Co., Northern Natural Gas, PacifiCorp, CE Electric UK and CalEnergy Generation.

Joseph Martens was confirmed as commissioner of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) on Tuesday.

While the commission that was appointed by President Obama to look into the fatal explosion aboard the BP plc-leased Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20 continue to press for a higher liability cap on offshore damages and the creation of a separate safety institute, some senators are concerned with the fact that liability is centered solely on the operator, allowing contractors a free pass.

While the commission that was appointed by President Obama to look into the fatal explosion aboard the BP plc-leased Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20 continued to press for a higher liability cap on offshore damages and the creation of a separate safety institute Wednesday, some senators were concerned with the fact that liability is centered solely on the operator, allowing contractors a free pass.

Joseph Martens, who was tapped by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday to lead New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), last year suggested the state wait until a federal study had been completed on hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) impacts to health and the environment before implementing rules for Marcellus Shale drillers.

Philip Clarke Baten, who has been an administrative law judge at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) since 2005, has been appointed as Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) administrative law judge, FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff said. Baten was in private practice for nearly 23 years before his time at HHS and from 1973 to 1982 served in a number of administrative and analytical positions at Howard University in Washington, DC, where he also earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in political science. Baten graduated from George Mason Law School in Virginia in 1980.

Linn Energy LLC has appointed Mark Ellis as president and CEO. Mike Linn, who founded the company in 2003, will remain executive chairman of the board of directors and will focus on the long-term strategy of the company and board leadership. Ellis joined the Houston-based producer in December 2006 and has served as president and COO since December 2007. Ellis has more than 30 years of experience in the oil and natural gas industry. Prior to joining Linn Energy, Ellis served as president of the Lower 48 states for ConocoPhillips and previously was senior vice president of North American production for Burlington Resources Corp.