William

Updating its April forecast (see Daily GPI, April 10), the Colorado State University forecast team led by Phil Klotzbach and William Gray said the U.S. Atlantic basin likely will experience another active hurricane season, but coastal regions may face fewer major hurricanes making landfall than last year.

Outgoing director of the FERC Office of Market Oversight and Investigation (OMOI) William F. Hederman has joined the law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP as director of the firm’s newly established Energy Resources Group, an affiliated group performing nonlegal professional services for the firm’s clients. Hederman will be offering energy clients insights into the development of compliance programs and internal audit procedures to satisfy FERC’s regulatory requirements. Hederman announced in late September that he would be leaving the Commission. Chairman Joseph Kelliher appointed FERC veteran Susan Court to head OMOI (see Daily GPI, Nov. 9). George D. Billinson is also moving over from OMOI’s enforcement division. Billinson’s practice for Morgan Lewis will focus on regulatory compliance, enforcement, investigations, audits and litigation.

William Hederman, director of the Office of Market Oversight and Investigations, has announced he will be returning to the private sector within the next few months and rumors are circulating that OMOI, created just over three years ago, will be dismantled or significantly reduced under new Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Joe Kelliher.

While the country continues to focus on the devastation left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, top storm forecasters William Gray and Philip Klotzbach of the Colorado State University (CSU) hurricane forecast team warned on Friday that the nation is not out of the woods yet, adding that new methodology for the calculation of onshore hurricane landfalls show that September and October could very well bring more mayhem to Florida and the Gulf Coast.

Revising their predictions on the eve of the official start to hurricane season, Colorado State University’s William M. Gray and Philip J. Klotzbach said the 2005 hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin is now expected to be “well-above average,” an upgrade from their early April prediction for an “above-average” hurricane season (see NGI, April 4). Hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to November 20.

Revising their predictions on the eve of the official start to hurricane season, Colorado State University’s William M. Gray and Philip J. Klotzbach said the 2005 hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin is now expected to be “well-above average,” an upgrade from their early April prediction for an “above-average” hurricane season. Hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to November 20.

California Energy Commission (CEC) Chairman William Keese said last week he was leaving the power plant siting and energy planning commission as of March 4. Keese, an attorney, made the announcement as part of the commission’s regular business meeting last Wednesday in Sacramento. Originally appointed to the commission in 1997 by then Gov. Pete Wilson, Keese was re-appointed by Gov. Gray Davis in the midst of the 2000-2001 western energy crisis. He alluded to that in making his announcement, indicating he never planned to stay on the CEC as long as he has. His fellow commissioners expressed surprise at Keese’s decision, and lauded his leadership in recent years. Keese’s current term was set to run until the end of this year. At Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s request, Keese will continue to be California’s designee and co-chair of the Western Governors’ Association advisory committee on “clean and diversified” energy. Schwarzenegger will have 30 days after Keese leaves to name a replacement to fill out his term.

FERC Chairman Pat Wood Friday announced the appointment of William J. Cowan as Deputy Chief Administrative Law Judge at the Commission. Cowan will assist Chief Administrative Law Judge Curtis Wagner, Jr. with the administrative and managerial duties of the Office of Administrative Law Judges and serve as head of the office in the absence of the chief judge. Cowan joined FERC as an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) in early 1997 until June 2001. From July 1998 to August 2001, he served as Deputy Chief Administrative Law Judge. In late 2001 until July 2003, he served as an ALJ for the Department of Labor in Boston, Massachusetts before returning to the Commission as an ALJ in July 2003. Before that he completed 24 years of service with the New York Public Service Commission, where he was General Counsel and Chief ALJ. Cowan received his Juris Doctor degree from Northeastern University’s School of Law in Boston and his undergraduate degree in economics from the same institution.

New England “dodged a bullet” in terms of power reliability during a cold snap earlier this year, William Hederman, chief of FERC’s Office of Market Oversight and Investigations (OMOI), told an audience of state utility regulators last Tuesday.