WASHINGTON -- Several U.S. senators said Thursday that Arkansan Colette Honorable is an outstanding nominee for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but they said her confirmation faces a time crunch.
Nominees for federal appointments not considered before the Senate adjourns next week have to start the process over with the new Congress in January.
Honorable, who is chairman of the Arkansas Public Service Commission, was nominated in August to replace John Norris, who resigned from the federal energy agency almost three years before his term expired to take a position with the U.S. Agriculture Department.
Honorable, 44, appeared Thursday before a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing concerning her nomination.
"Based on what you said today, based on your history and the significant bipartisan support that you had today, I think you are going to do a great job of striking the right balance on that teeter-totter," Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said.
Honorable seems capable of helping the commission with the challenge of balancing low-energy prices and adequate service, he said.
Wyden, who acted as chairman Thursday, said the committee is going to do all it can to get Honorable confirmed before the end of the year.
Honorable was first appointed to the state commission in 2007, then assumed the leadership post in 2011. She is also past president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulates transmission of electricity, natural gas and oil. It also reviews proposals to build liquefied natural gas terminals and interstate natural-gas pipelines as well as licensing hydropower projects.
U.S. Sens. Mark Pryor and John Boozman of Arkansas each spoke on Honorable's behalf at the committee meeting after greeting her with hugs.
Pryor, who hired Honorable to work in his office when he was the Arkansas attorney general, said her work with the Public Service Commission and the national association were great training for the federal post.
"I've known her for years, and she would be an outstanding member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission," the Democrat from Little Rock said. "She's honest, she's fair, she listens, she works harder than anyone I've ever seen."
Pryor, who lost re-election in November, has said Honorable's confirmation is on top of the list of things he wants to accomplish before leaving the Senate.
Boozman said Honorable has a reputation as a "straight shooter" and an independent regulator.
"I didn't hire Ms. Honorable, and yet certainly after having gotten to know her, I certainly would have," Boozman said.
The committee still has to vote on whether to accept her nomination, which would then go to the full Senate for consideration.
The Senate has largely focused on voting on pending nominations since it returned Monday from the Thanksgiving holiday. The chamber is scheduled to adjourn Thursday, although Senate leaders have said they could stay longer to consider some of more than 100 nominations waiting in the wings.
Several committee members said they support Honorable's nomination, including Wyden; Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.; Al Franken, D-Minn.; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; and John Hoeven, R-N.D.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., called Honorable a "breath of fresh air" and praised her regulatory experience.
"You're the first person that's been nominated to FERC that's had truly the experience to do the job we're asking you to do, and that's to have the regulatory experience, be recognized by your peers, have the expertise to bring immediately to something I think is very vulnerable," Manchin said.
The majority of questions revolved around how Honorable would handle specific issues in members' states.
Honorable declined to comment after Thursday's hearing. Nominees often are instructed not to speak with the media while under consideration.
"If confirmed to serve at FERC," she told the committee, "I would continue to build upon the work which I began several years ago in my beloved Arkansas, a place that has taught me so much: to do good; to listen to the opinions of others even when you don't agree; and, to respect others and to serve the least of these."
Sitting in the row behind Honorable was her teenage daughter, Sydney; her twin sister, Coleen; and her other sister, Pam.
Honorable served as Arkansas Workforce Investment Board executive director in 2007 before Gov. Mike Beebe appointed her to the Public Service Commission. When Beebe was attorney general, Honorable worked as his chief of staff from 2006 to 2007 and as assistant attorney general for civil litigation from 2004 to 2006.
Honorable thanked Beebe for acting as a mentor. Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said by email after the hearing that "Gov. Beebe has championed Colette's achievements throughout her career, and he knows that she will do Arkansas proud if confirmed to FERC by the full Senate."
She also worked as an associate at Cauley Geller Bowman and Rudman LLP in Little Rock from 2003 to 2004. Honorable was an assistant city attorney in North Little Rock from 2003 to 2004, an assistant public defender from 1998 to 1999, a judicial law clerk at the Arkansas Court of Appeals from 1997 to 1998 and a staff attorney at the Center for Arkansas Legal Services from 1995 to 1996.
Honorable has a bachelor's degree from Memphis State University and a juris doctorate from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law.
Metro on 12/05/2014