Political Quotes

“I rise to speak on the pending nominations. I appreciate the majority leader scheduling this vote to confirm Mr. Norman Bay to be a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. FERC is one of the lesser known but perhaps one of the most important independent agencies in the Federal Government. It has jurisdiction over interstate transmission of electricity, oil, and natural gas, as well as licensing of hydroelectric power. I believe Mr. Bay will be an outstanding member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. I urge all of my colleagues to support his nomination today. Since 2009 Mr. Bay has been the Director of the Office of Enforcement at FERC, where he has gained extensive experience in the regulation of energy markets. The Office of Enforcement is responsible for market oversight and surveillance and for implementing the antimanipulation authority Congress enacted in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This authority provided FERC new tools to combat the type of market manipulation that produced the devastating power crisis a decade ago across the West. Under Mr. Bay's leadership, FERC has increased transparency in its work, while bringing a number of enforcement actions that have helped protect the integrity of the energy markets and provided $300 million in relief to consumers--$300 million back into the pockets of energy consumers. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School and has had a long and distinguished career of public service.…”