FERC would seem an unlikely candidate for this high-level attention. | John Shinkle/POLITICO Sides lining up in FERC fight

It’s not unusual for think tanks, lobbyists, PR firms and deep-pocketed foundations to draw battle lines when the president nominates a new agency head — unless the agency is an obscure regulatory body with an ungainly nickname like “FERC.”

But Ron Binz’s nomination to chair the five-person Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is already breaking new ground as it becomes caught up in a larger struggle over the Obama administration’s policies on climate change, fossil fuels and Wall Street wrongdoing.


So far the drama has included a Wall Street Journal editorial that denounced the former Colorado utility regulatory as “radical” for his past attempts to shut down coal plants, a stern rebuttal from a dozen former Republican and Democratic FERC commissioners, and a green energy nonprofit’s eyebrow-raising decision to hire a public relations firm to support Binz’s confirmation. His case has also drawn the interest of a libertarian-leaning energy group that has gotten some of its past money from the billionaire Koch brothers, as well as lobbying powerhouses like the group that represents the nation’s electric cooperatives.

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Most lawmakers have yet to take a public stand on Binz. Still, the hiring of the Washington-based PR firm VennSquared Communications by his supporters was signal enough that this won’t be a typical FERC confirmation process.

“These things don’t happen in the FERC world,” one utility industry lobbyist said. “For a nominee, who cares? It’s a big commission. There are five votes. It’s just usually not worth people’s effort.”

But if conservative groups that object to Binz’s record have their way, everyone will be hearing a lot more about FERC.

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“People in Washington don’t even know what FERC is, let alone people outside of Washington,” said Ben Cole, a spokesman for the libertarian-leaning American Energy Alliance, which has criticized Binz but not yet outright opposed his confirmation. “But my suspicion is, they’re about to learn about an agency they didn’t know existed.”

Cole added: “My other suspicion was that the administration had hoped that a FERC nomination would be snooze-fest on Capitol Hill, as they have been many times in the past. But that’s not going to be the case this time.”

The Green Tech Action Fund, a renewable energy nonprofit affiliated with the San Francisco-based Energy Foundation, wouldn’t say exactly what prompted it to hire VennSquared. But Richard Caperton, managing director of energy programs at the liberal Center for American Progress, said he thinks it “reflects a change in the times and a change in how Washington works.”

“Now that every nomination has become highly politicized and partisan, it makes sense to bring in outside help to move nominations forward,” he said. “I definitely expect that we’ll see more of it. I’m sort of surprised we haven’t seen more of it already.”

FERC would seem an unlikely candidate for this high-level attention.

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The agency oversees the electric grid, interstate natural gas pipelines and litany of other issues central to the nation’s energy consumption. In recent years, it has also made headlines for outgoing Chairman Jon Wellinghoff’s attempts to make it easier to hook wind and solar projects to the grid, as well as the fines it has imposed on Wall Street firms like JPMorgan Chase for alleged manipulation of energy markets.

But Binz’s background offers opportunities for theatrics that were missing from some of President Barack Obama’s other energy-related picks, such as Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.

In March, Binz told the audience at an Edison Foundation event that natural gas will be a “dead end” by 2035 without technology to capture its greenhouse gas emissions. (Never mind that Moniz, who’s certainly no anti-gas zealot, has made similar remarks with no fanfare.) Before that, as chairman of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, Binz became wildly unpopular with the coal industry after he helped craft a state law that offered incentives for closing some coal-burning power plants.

Binz also was subject of a state ethics complaint filed by a Republican state legislator, leading to a ruling that he had violated rules but “did not breach the public trust for personal gain” by accepting a travel reimbursement from an energy analysis firm. An embarrassing audit of travel by Colorado’s utility commissioners provided more ammunition for his critics.

Some of his opponents say Binz has crossed the line from regulator to executive branch advocate, citing a website in which he boasted of his role in “implementing the many policy changes championed by the Governor and the Legislature to bring forward Colorado’s ‘New Energy Economy.’”

On top of all that, Obama announced that he intended to appoint Binz as FERC chairman upon confirmation, rather than having him start as a rank-and-file commissioner. No FERC appointee has gone directly to the top job since the 1980s, and some watchers of the agency wonder why Obama didn’t tap Commissioner John Norris as chairman — or choose one of a handful of other shortlisted candidates who lack Binz’s baggage.

The White House declined to comment. VennSquared said Binz won’t speak to reporters while his nomination is still pending before the Senate.

One factor that could mute the anti-Binz bandwagon is the stance of the utilities industry, which has the most to lose from crossing a potential FERC chairman and is unlikely to go on the attack.

Other groups won’t necessarily be so reluctant, though. Among them: the American Energy Alliance, whose industry support has included reported financial ties to Charles and David Koch, the industrialists who are fierce opponents of Obama’s regulatory agenda. (The AEA says Koch operatives have not been involved in the group’s efforts around Binz’s nomination.)

“There needs to be a grassroots education effort about FERC’s tremendous authority, and the way that this particular regulatory commission’s powers touch the lives of everyday Americans in ways that they don’t even know,” the alliance’s Cole said. “In many ways, it is sort of the secret giant of the energy world. And we’re going to look very carefully at, not just Binz, but FERC in general.”

Binz’s nomination ties directly to Obama’s climate agenda, Cole and other critics say. “This is one of the last pieces of the puzzle for the president to push his energy goals apart from congressional authorization,” Cole said.

He added that the involvement of the WSJ editorial board, as well as the rebuttal by former FERC commissioners, also sent signals about the importance of the Binz fight. “The Wall Street Journal raised the stakes for this, and the response that came from former commissioners makes this a most-significant confirmation,” Cole said.

Meanwhile, Binz’s supporters don’t lack for resources.

Green Tech, for example, is backed by The Energy Foundation, which launched in 1991 with $20 million from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The foundation pulled in more than $96 million in 2011, the most recent filing available, to fund renewable and energy efficiency programs in the U.S. and China.

Binz did at least $10,000 in consulting work for the Energy Foundation, according to his financial disclosure forms, and former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter also sits on the organization’s board of directors.

Asked why it hired the PR firm, Green Tech told POLITICO that it believes Binz’s “regulatory approach” in Colorado was “sound” and wants to support his bid to lead FERC. “Our support includes helping to make sure accurate information about Ron and his record are in the media as the Senate considers this important nomination,” the group added.

Green Tech’s tax returns say the group was established “to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.”

Nearly a dozen ideological groups with an interest in Binz’s nomination are meeting in Washington this week to figure out their options. And the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, a campaign finance powerhouse in the energy world, hasn’t come to a decision on Binz but was trying to set up meetings with the nominee directly.

Binz’s nomination must clear the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, where the crucial decisions may lie with two fossil-fuel-friendly Democrats: Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. Democrats hold only a two-seat majority on the panel, so Binz may need every Democratic vote if the Republicans on the committee unite against him.

Some observers see little payoff for conservatives to block Binz — after all, Obama would still be the one to choose the next nominee. And the chairman is just one of five votes on the commission.

“Because FERC’s role is well-defined, its precedent’s pretty well-defined, and there are five commissioners, it’s hard for an incoming commissioner and chairman — who hypothetically would want to ignore all of that — to strike into a brave new world,” a former FERC official said. “Would anyone follow?”