Tapped

Vincente Martinez, who most recently served as an enforcement official with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has been tapped as the first director of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) new Whistleblower Office.

Margaret N. Schneider has been tapped to be deputy director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), BSEE Director James A. Watson said. Schneider was senior advisor to the BSEE director and also assisted with policy reviews and managed special projects. Prior to working with BSEE, she spent 30 years in the Environmental Protection Agency. In her new post, Schneider will assist Watson with the enforcement of safety and environmental regulations governing the Outer Continental Shelf.

U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral James A. Watson IV has been tapped to be director of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environment Enforcement (BSEE). Watson will assume his new post on Dec. 1, succeeding Michael R. Bromwich. Bromwich will stay on through December as counselor to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to ensure a smooth transition of leadership. BSEE is one of two agencies that were created to succeed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement on Oct. 1 (see NGI, Sept. 19). It is responsible for enforcing safety and environmental regulations for oil and natural gas operations on the Outer Continental Shelf, including permitting and research, inspections, offshore regulatory programs, and oil spill response. Watson currently is the Coast Guard’s director of prevention policy for marine safety, security and stewardship in Washington, DC. He served as deputy commander of the Coast Guard Atlantic Area Command in April 2010. And in June 2010 he was designated the federal on-scene coordinator for all-of-government response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has tapped U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral James A. Watson IV to be director of the Bureau of Safety and Environment Enforcement (BSEE).

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) has tapped former National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman Jim Hall to serve as an outside adviser to help the utility oversee the extensive safety improvement initiatives under way within its natural gas operations. Hall and his firm, Hall & Associates, are to focus in particular on ensuring that PG&E’s plans are effectively addressing the safety recommendations that have emerged during the past year through various audits and other inquiries into the San Bruno, CA, pipeline accident in September 2010. The recommendations are included in the final reports issued by the California Public Utilities Commission Independent Review Panel and the NTSB (see NGI, Oct. 3).

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) has tapped former National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman Jim Hall to serve as an outside adviser to help the utility oversee the extensive safety improvement initiatives under way within its natural gas operations.

Michael Bromwich, who now leads the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), has been tapped to take over the newly formed Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) until a permanent director is named. Bromwich’s top assistant, BOEMRE Senior Adviser Tommy P. Beaudreau will lead the new Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). Bromwich and Beaudreau have been involved in the creation of the two new bureaus, which are to be officially established on Oct. 1. Bromwich agreed to serve as the BSEE chief, and Interior said it has launched “an aggressive, nationwide recruitment effort to find a permanent director.” Beaudreau would be the permanent BOEM director. Salazar’s Secretarial Order in 2010 divided the former Minerals Management Service into the BSEE, BOEM and the Office of Natural Resources Revenue. MMS was renamed BOEMRE, and ONRR now operates under Interior’s Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget. ONRR manages revenues associated with federal offshore and federal and American Indian onshore mineral leases, as well as revenues received as a result of offshore renewable energy efforts. BSEE is to handle inspections, enforcement and safety of offshore oil and gas operations while BOEM is to be responsible for energy leasing and planning on the Outer Continental Shelf.

Michael Bromwich, who now leads the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), has been tapped to take over the newly formed Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) until a permanent director is named, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Friday.

Gov. Jerry Brown has tapped an obscure and unfilled appointee position at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to add a special advisor to the mix of five governor-appointed state regulators to push along some his own pet distributed and solar energy initiatives. Jeanne Clinton, a manager in the CPUC’s Climate Strategies Branch, was appointed special advisor for energy efficiency, renewables and distributed generation. Clinton has worked in high-level energy policymaking positions in the state government since 2001. In addition to working with the five commissioners, Clinton will interface with the CPUC energy division and its office of government affairs, as well as other departments and agencies in state government. The appointment does not require state Senate confirmation as do the five CPUC commissioner positions.