Nominees

The process to nominate and confirm two new commissioners to FERC, which appeared to be nearing a significant milestone at year’s end, reverted back to square one with the flip of the calendar.

The process to nominate and confirm two new commissioners to FERC, which appeared to be nearing a significant milestone at year’s end, reverted back to square one with the flip of the calendar.

With one seat on FERC’s nominally five-member panel empty for more than three months and another due to be vacated this summer, natural gas and oil organizations are anxious for the White House to nominate new commissioners.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is moving quickly to get President-elect Obama’s energy and environmental nominees confirmed by the Senate. It has scheduled the confirmation hearing for Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu, who has been tapped to be secretary of energy, for Jan. 13, and the confirmation hearing for Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO), Obama’s choice for Interior Department secretary, for Jan. 15.

The Senate has confirmed two nominees to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission — Jill E. Sommers and Bart H. Chilton — bringing the agency almost up to full capacity.

The two FERC nominees agreed on most energy issues during their first appearance before the Senate energy panel Thursday, except on whether the U.S. should look to foreign countries now to supplement its natural gas supplies.

A deal signed late Monday by 14 centrist senators to avert a showdown over judicial nominees “bodes positively” for the chances for energy legislation in the Senate next month, said energy analyst Christine Tezak. She believes the outlook for energy legislation in Congress this year would be particularly good if the cooperative spirit continues.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee does not plan to proceed with the Republican nominee for FERC, Joseph T. Kelliher, until the White House taps a Democratic appointee, namely former New Mexico regulator Suedeen Kelly, for the agency, said a spokesman for the committee.

Texas regulator Pat H. Wood III and Pennsylvania regulator Nora M. Brownell made their first public appearances in Washington, D.C. last week since being nominated by the White House as FERC commissioners. But mindful of their pending Senate confirmation hearings, the two were mum on the critical issues that will confront them when they assume office.