BINZ WITHDRAWS NOMINATION FOR FERC CHAIRMANSHIP

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
10/4/13

President Barack Obama’s pick to chair the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission formally withdrew his nomination Oct. 1 amid growing opposition from groups tied to the fossil fuel industry. Ron Binz said in a statement earlier this week that he was “withdrawing so that the President can move forward with another nominee, allowing FERC to continue its important work with a full complement of commissioners.” The move had been expected after it became clear in recent weeks that his nomination did not have enough support to advance out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. In the weeks since Binz’s Sept. 17 nomination hearing, all 10 Republicans on the panel, as well as at least one Democrat, vowed to vote against his candidacy.

Organizations tied to the coal, oil and gas industries staged an unprecedented campaign to defeat Binz’s candidacy to head up FERC, which oversees natural gas pipelines and the country’s electricity transmission infrastructure. Ahead of his nomination hearing last month, groups like the American Energy Alliance framed Binz as an anti-coal crusader who favored renewables with little regard for price impacts on ratepayers. The group highlighted Binz’s time as chairman of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission from 2007 to 2011, when he helped implement an initiative that encouraged the shuttering of old coal capacity in the state. Other opponents focused on remarks Binz made earlier this year that natural gas could be a “dead end” fuel without carbon capture and storage by 2035, arguing that his views were outside the mainstream. Binz said his remarks had been misconstrued and that he was supportive of natural gas.