Kelliher

Executives from the oil and gas industry told a Senate panel on Thursday the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and FERC needed to play bigger roles to ensure a fair regulatory climate to permit natural gas pipelines, adding that Congress may need to change some laws to help make that possible.

Canadian Ambassador Michael Wilson wrote a letter to FERC Chairman Joseph Kelliher this month expressing Canadian concerns about potential environmental, navigational and safety risks of liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker traffic in Canadian waters in the Bay of Fundy and Passamaquoddy Bay in transit to proposed LNG import terminals in Maine.

FERC Chairman Joseph T. Kelliher has named John S. Moot to be the Commission’s General Counsel, effective Sept. 12. Moot will succeed Cynthia Marlette who has been appointed to a new position in which she will oversee the agency’s implementation of requirements under the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Moot comes to FERC from the Washington, DC law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, where he has practiced since 1992 and been a partner for six years. Prior to that, he was an associate attorney at the law firm of Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson & Hand. Moot has represented publicly owned utilities, rural electric cooperatives, investor-owned utilities, wholesale power companies, state regulatory commissions and merchant generators. He received his law degree from American University Washington College of Law in 1988, and his bachelor of arts degree from St. Lawrence University in 1983.