Retired

Thomas F. Darden has retired from the Quicksilver Resources Inc. board chairmanship and from his officer position effective Wednesday, the company said. He will remain on the board as a director and chairman emeritus and will continue to work for Quicksilver through the end of the year. He will be focused on pursuing a joint venture in British Columbia’s Horn River Basin, something that the Fort Worth, TX-based company has sought for some time (see Shale Daily, May 8). Darden is to retire from Quicksilver on Dec. 31 but will continue to advise the company on the Horn River development and other projects, the company said. W. Yandell Rogers was elected chairman Wednesday. He has served as an independent director since March 1999.

John Hofmeister is a man on a mission.

A county judge in Pennsylvania has ordered court records from a water contamination case involving several companies that operate in the Marcellus Shale unsealed and available for public view.

DCP Midstream LLC and DCP Midstream Partners LP made several management and board changes effective Jan. 1. Tom O’Connor will retire as CEO of DCP Midstream but will remain chairman of the board for both DCP Midstream and DCP Midstream GP LLC, the general partner of DCP Midstream Partners, “until an appointed time in 2013.” Wouter van Kempen, formerly COO and president of DCP Midstream, will become CEO and president of DCP Midstream and CEO of the general partner. William Waldheim, president of the general partner, will join the general partner’s board. And, as had previously been announced, Mark Borer retired as CEO of the general partner on Dec. 31.

Between 59,000 and 77,000 megawatts (MW) of U.S. coal-fired power generating capacity will be retired over the next five years, according to economists at The Brattle Group. That’s an increase of 25,000 MW over their December 2010 estimate, in part due to low gas prices. Upcoming coal retirements could bring “modest increases in natural gas prices,” they said.

The Perryville Hub in North Louisiana continues to raise its profile in the Gulf Coast region on the shoulders of Midcontinent shale gas production and growing gas-fired power generation demand in the Southeast. Pipeline operators are responding with efforts to streamline trading at the location with the expectation that it will become the supply-demand crossroads for shale gas and power plants.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Citizens Advisory Council has appointed Marjorie Hughes as executive director. The 18-member council reviews the work of the DEP and makes recommendations to the department, the governor and the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Hughes comes to the position following 35 years working on environmental and transportation issues for state and local governments, most recently serving as the chief of the DEP’s Conservation District Support Division in the Bureau of Waterways and Wetlands. She is replacing Sue Wilson, who retired from the position in December after 19 years.

The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) has named Steve Berberich as its new CEO, replacing Yakout Mansour, who retired recently after a six-year stint heading the state grid operator. A former executive with Dallas-based TXU, Berberich joined CAISO in 2005 and has served since 2010 as COO at CAISO’s Folsom, CA headquarters. Keith Casey had served as interim CEO since Mansour left CAISO.

John Bryson, the retired CEO of Edison International, was nominated Tuesday by President Obama to be the next secretary of commerce, replacing Gary Locke, the former Washington governor who is leaving the federal Cabinet post. A former chief regulator in California and a founding attorney of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Bryson will continue the U.S. Commerce Department’s efforts to increase the nation’s competitiveness in the global marketplace, according to the White House. Obama said Bryson “understands what it takes to succeed in the 21st century economy.”