Obama Designates Jon Wellinghoff As FERC Chairman

President Barack Obama announced that Jon Wellinghoff, currently serving as Acting Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), will be designated as Chairman. Jon Wellinghoff, Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory CommissionWellinghoff was named Acting Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the agency that oversees wholesale electric transactions and interstate electric transmission and gas transportation in the United States, by President Obama in January 2009. A member of the Commission since 2006, the U.S. Senate reconfirmed him to a full, five-year FERC term in December 2007.

Wellinghoff is an energy law specialist with more than 30 years experience in the field. Before joining FERC, he was in private practice and focused exclusively on client matters related to renewable energy, energy efficiency and distributed generation. While in the private sector, Wellinghoff represented an array of clients from federal agencies, renewable developers, and large consumers of power to energy efficient product manufacturers and clean energy advocacy organizations. While in private practice, Wellinghoff was the primary author of the Nevada Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) Act. In addition, he worked with clients to develop renewable portfolio standards in six other states. Wellinghoff is considered an expert on the state renewable portfolio process and has lectured extensively on the subject in numerous forums including the Vermont Law School. His experience also includes two terms as the State of Nevada’s first Consumer Advocate for Customers of Public Utilities. Wellinghoff is co-chair of the Demand Response Collaborative launched jointly by FERC and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and is a member of NARUC’s Committee on Energy Resources and the Environment. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Institute for Electric Efficiency and served as an advisor to the Defense Science Board’s Energy Policy Task Force.

Wellinghoff also advises the Energy Foundation and the NRDC on China-U.S. energy policy matters. He recently returned from China where he headed a delegation of U.S. energy regulators. He received his J.D. from Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C., his M.A.T in Mathematics from Howard University, and his B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Nevada, Reno. (The White House)