Republicans Criticize Obama Energy Nominee

• Marie Cusick
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  Marie Cusick was the Harrisburg reporter for StateImpact Pennsylvania.

Republicans and at least one Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee are concerned President Obama’s choice to head the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) favors renewable energy sources like wind and solar over fossil fuels.
Ron Binz served on Colorado’s utilities commission from 2007 to 2011 and worked to reduce the state’s reliance on coal-fired plants.
His nomination to head the relatively obscure commission has attracted a lot of attention. Today Senate Republicans grilled Binz  at a committee hearing, according to the Associated Press:

Specifically, Republicans said they were troubled by Binz’s comment that natural gas may be a “dead end” fuel. Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., also criticized Binz’s support of a Colorado clean-air law that they said resulted in the closure of several coal-fired power plants.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the panel’s top Republican, told Binz at the conclusion of a three-hour hearing that she would vote against his nomination to chair the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Murkowski said she was not convinced Binz’s views were “compatible with FERC’s mission” to regulate interstate transmission of electricity, oil and natural gas.

The hearing was preliminary and committee has not yet scheduled a meeting to move Binz’s nomination to the full Senate floor.
As more and more pipelines are needed to transport Pennsylvania’s Marcellus shale gas, FERC’s role has become more prominent. The commission is charged with approving all interstate pipelines.

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