Energy & Environment: Markey Wants Answers on Rare Earths
• Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., "is pressing the Obama administration for information about alleged Chinese restrictions on the export of rare earth minerals used in defense and energy technologies, warning of threats to U.S. interests," The Hill reports.
• "Three months after BP capped its runaway well in the Gulf of Mexico, the state of Louisiana is still building a chain of sand berms off its coast to block and capture oil even as federal officials and many scientists argue that the effort will prove pointless," the New York Times reports.
• An Idaho couple has "sued the state to stop the shipments by Imperial Oil and ConocoPhillips" to an oil sands site in Canada, "arguing that the" truck loads delivered there "would threaten the integrity of Idaho's historic portion of U.S. 12, as well as the safety of communities that depend on it as the main road in and out of the area," the Times also reports. "National environmental groups and climate change activists are supporting their efforts, seeing a broader opportunity to stall development of Canada's oil sands, which they denounce as a dirty source of energy. "
• "Combating climate change has long taken a back seat to coal production in West Virginia, but in the hard-fought House race in this state's 1st district, global warming hasn't even made it onto the bus," The Hill reports. "In interviews on Thursday, both the Democratic and Republican nominees for Congress voiced skepticism of the science behind global warming, and the Republican, David McKinley, flatly called concerns about climate change 'an attack on coal.'"
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Joseph T. Kelliher
Biography provided by participant
Kelliher was named chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by President Bush on July 9, 2005. While in office, Kelliher pursued a series of reforms to promote competitive power and natural gas markets, improve FERC economic regulation, and strengthen the U.S. energy infrastructure, with the objective of ensuring reliable, reasonably priced energy for U.S. consumers.
The former chairman assumed his post shortly before enactment of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. That law gave FERC its single largest grant of regulatory authority since the 1930s, assigning FERC a new mission to assure reliability of the interstate power grid and greatly expanding FERC enforcement power. Implementing the law has been one of his primary challenges.
Kelliher's career has focused on energy policy matters. He has served as senior policy advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Energy, majority counsel to the House Commerce Committee, and has held a variety of positions with private corporations, trade associations, and law firms. He earned a B.S.F.S. from Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service and graduated with a J.D. from American University Washington College of Law.
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