Reports: Trump considers PUC Commissioner Powelson for federal post

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

Multiple news outlets are reporting President Donald Trump is considering tapping Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissioner Robert F. Powelson for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The five member independent commission oversees the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas, and oil. Since February it’s had three vacancies and is unable to advance projects without a quorum.

Bloomberg also reports Trump intends to nominate Jones Day attorney Kevin McIntyre as FERC chairman, and Neil Chatterjee, the senior energy adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Through a PUC spokesman, Powelson declined to comment on the news reports.

Powelson has served on the PUC since 2008. He is currently president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. He was also served on former Governor Tom Corbett’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission in 2011, which helped shape Act 13— the major update of Pennsylvania oil and gas law, which was passed a year later.

 

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