Who, what, is FERC?

So it’s finally come to pass: Quoddy Bay LLC has applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a permit to build a liquefied natural gas terminal at Pleasant Point.

So who is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission? What is FERC, this national board that now has, thanks to the giveaway of local autonomy by our bought-and-paid-for Congress, arbitrary decision-making power as to the location of LNG plants?

According to the FERC Web site, FERC “is composed of up to five commissioners who are appointed by the president of the United States with the advice and consent of the Senate. Commissioners serve five-year terms, and have an equal vote on regulatory matters.

“To avoid any undue political influence or pressure, no more than three commissioners may belong to the same political party. There is no review of FERC decisions by the president or Congress, maintaining FERC’s independence as a regulatory agency, and providing for fair and unbiased decisions. The Commission is funded through costs recovered by the fees and annual charges from the industries it regulates.”

Let’s take a look at this “undue political influence or pressure” part of FERC’s composition. First, as of this writing there are three Republican members of the commission. No Democratic members have been appointed by the Bush-Cheney regime.

Second, the appointed chair of the commission, Joseph T. Kelliher, again using information taken from the FERC Web site, “served on the Bush-Cheney Presidential Transition Team. Previously, Mr. Kelliher was of Counsel with the law firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae. He served as Majority Counsel to the House Committee on Commerce from 1995 to 2000, where he was responsible for electricity, hydropower, conservation, nuclear waste, and other energy legislation. During 1991 to 1995, Mr. Kelliher represented Public Service Electric and Gas Company before the Congress on a wide range of energy legislation.”

In other words, Kelliher was a powerful lobbyist for the power industry with strong ties to the current occupants of the White House.

Third, Kelliher’s previous law firm, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, according to a company press release in 2004, “has advised the Republic of Equatorial Guinea and GEPetrol (Equatorial Guinea’s national oil company) on its $1.4 billion LNG project. This is the fastest LNG project completion to date.”

It is hard to imagine that Kelliher has severed all connections with his previous law firm and that he has no knowledge or biases toward the LNG industry. It is disappointing, to say the least, that the press has chosen to ignore this potential conflict of interest. Or that there has been no call from opponents of the LNG industry in Maine for Chairman Kelliher to recuse himself from hearing evidence in the application of Quoddy Bay, LLC.

The other two members of the commission, Suedeen G. Kelly and Nora Mead Brownell, both distinguished attorneys in their own right, each have strong backgrounds in the public utility industry. Commissioner Kelly previously served as chair of the New Mexico Public Service Commission, and Commissioner Brownell served as a member of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

It is interesting to note that Commissioner Brownell was the sole commissioner to vote against the establishment of an LNG plant in Massachusetts in 2005. Where are the Democratic appointees to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission? George W. Bush has had nearly six years to appoint them as mandated by law and by the will of Congress. Why do our representatives and senators remain silent on this issue? Why do our major newspapers not raise the issue in the interest of fairness?

A full statement of financial and corporate disclosure regarding any connection to the LNG industry and its parent companies from the Bangor Daily News, for instance, would be reassuring.

There is no appeal from FERC’s decision on LNG to either the president or Congress.

The industrialization of Down East Maine and the destruction of a way of life are at stake. At the very least FERC should be forced to play by the rules of its charter. Opponents and proponents of Quoddy Bay LLC should receive a “fair and unbiased” hearing before a five-member Federal Energy Regulatory Commission comprised of both Republican and Demo-cratic members. Anything less puts this arbitrary decision- making power into the hands of an unhealthily small group of people and has the potential to result in a legally flawed decision.

Dick Hoyt, of Lubec, is a retired high school teacher and a trustee of Quoddy Regional Land Trust.